Family of L.A. insurance executive killed by security guard says shooter has been on the run for 13 months

The family of a Los Angeles insurance executive who was gunned down on the streets of San Francisco last year by a hotel security guard claims the shooter has been on the run from police for 13 months, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Ryan Pincus, 37, was killed in the early morning hours of Aug. 4, 2023, as he was walking back to the Marriott Hotel where he was staying in the Union Square neighborhood of San Francisco. His family is suing the security guard’s employer, Universal Protection Service. The guard is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

Pincus had been to a Giants game earlier in the evening, then gotten dinner with friends, according to the lawsuit filed by his family in San Francisco Superior Court. But before he could get back to his hotel, he was accosted by a guard with Universal Protection Service working for another hotel on Mason and Eddy streets.

“Over a roughly 3½ minute period, without provocation or justification, [the security guard] verbally and then physically attacked Ryan. [The security guard] escalated the confrontation from verbal to physical, and ultimately ended his attack on Ryan by drawing his gun and fatally shooting him,” wrote attorney Blair Kittle in the complaint.

The lawsuit names the alleged shooter who worked for the security company, but The Times is not naming him since he has not been charged in the case.

According to the complaint, the shooter “fled the scene and has not been seen since despite efforts by the SFPD and other law enforcement to locate him.” Police told Pincus’ father, Steven Pincus, the shooter was on the run, Kittle said.

The family filed suit Thursday against Universal Protection Service for wrongful death and negligent hiring, among other claims.

“We cannot live in a world where security guards shoot and kill unsuspecting passersby,” Kittle said in a statement. Companies that equip, train, supervise and manage security guards should be held to the highest standards of safety and accountability.”