Support Bob’s Bravery to Help 2 Girls Against Mob

DONATE TO (1) SUPPORT BOB’S BRAVE STAND AGAINST STREET THUGS TO PREVENT SERIOUS HARM TO 2 YOUNG FEMALE STRANGERS, AND (2) HELP BOB RECOVER FROM THE BRUTAL MOB ATTACK AND ROBBERY OF HIS VALUABLE PHOTOGRAPHY EQUIPMENT.

This GoFundMe campaign is about our community’s stand against senseless street violence and about our support for ordinary people, who would risk their personal safety and property to intervene or assist complete strangers under attack by a gang of violent hoodlums. One of those ordinary people, who takes great risks to speak out against the unprovoked brutality and violence, is Bob Henry, a gregarious, compassionate, and well-liked 65-year-old free-lance photographer.

From the Cover Video, you can see that Bob loves his job, and his talent and authenticity have earned him the respect and adoration of his clients, colleagues, family and friends like me. Bob’s positive attitude, internal strength and resilience have helped him overcome many seemingly insurmountable obstacles. He has survived two separate fierce battles against cancer. At one point, as a single father, he struggled and triumphed while working full-time, taking care of his toddler son and fighting cancer.

Bob will tell you that he is not a reluctant hero, or a hero at all, today or on Sunday 2/16/2025. Bob did “what [he’s] supposed to do.” Bob felt compelled to intervene in a senseless and violent gang beating of two defenseless and young female victims. Bob’s verbal command for the thugs to leave the girls alone was met with such uncontrollable rage, and physical violence by these terrorists. Bob suffered numerous serious injuries and was robbed of his valuable photography equipment.

THE INCIDENT

On 2/16/2025, Bob just wanted to hop on BART and go home, triggered by the news of a family member’s cancer diagnosis and worried about his estimated car repair cost of over $6,000. He must fix his car to get to work appointments. Unordinary problems in ordinary lives.

Around 4-5 p.m., while walking near the intersection of Valencia and 23rd Streets (Mission District, District 9), Bob noticed a group of loud and menacing young adults congregating and blocking the sidewalk. As he approached, he saw them harassing two female pedestrians attempting to cross Valencia Street. The group became more aggressive as they followed the girls, and ultimately caused one female victim to fall on the ground. Seeing the escalation of force used and no one stepped up to help, Bob believed that without an intervention, the female victim being pummeled on the ground would suffer additional severe injuries. Bob decided to walk toward the crowd while yelling out, “Why don’t you leave her alone! She’s just a girl.”

Much to Bob’s dismay, instead of relenting, the attackers turned their aggression toward Bob. One attacker lunged at him, and like a swarm of bees, the others followed suit. Bob tried his best to escape the onslaught of punches and kicks, while being chased from the crosswalk to the other side of the street. Ultimately, Bob was pushed to the ground by his attackers in front of the Buffalo Exchange store. Miraculously, this part of the incident is captured on video by a Tiktoker and is included in the Cover Video. (https://x.com/tl2active/status/1891541621226811612?s=10)

As if on cue, the next part of this ordeal is recorded by another person and is also included in the Cover Video. The video shows several bystanders, standing safely behind the Buffalo Exchange storefront window, were watching, recording and reacting, in real time, to such a senseless and brutal beating of Bob, who was alone, pinned helplessly on the dirty sidewalk between an attacker’s legs and was unable to move or defend himself. The video further shows a group of angry, violent, uncontrollable young men surrounded, and callously and repeatedly punched and kicked Bob in the head and body areas. This video was submitted to Mission Local and is embedded in an excellent article authored by Oscar Palma on 2/18/2025 (https://missionlocal.org/2025/02/video-two-injured-in-assault-by-group-of-bicyclists-on-valencia-st/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3XuJ6kxg02yMsiSeasAKepP6CuQs0nKW14yTdhI8LTGdLnVhoXL2AITuM_aem_gC4gAxI_U69MOz4g6DwjrA

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGPPpLwyGyT/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==)

After the police arrived, two individuals were arrested at the scene. A witness claims that he/she saw one of the attackers rummaging through a backpack (Bob’s) a few feet away down the street, while another was holding a camera taken from the pack. They were laughing as they tore through the contents, and one of them asked out loud, “Did you grab his wallet?” Neighborhood witnesses also reported that this group of thugs regularly terrorize and cause harm to the residents as well as visitors. After their arrest, the two thugs did not express any remorse and even tried to deny any responsibility.

THE AFTERMATH

As each hour (6 in total) drags by at the Emergency Room, Bob sat motionless and slumped over partially hiding his bruised face, swollen cheeks, developing black eyes, bone-deep exhaustion, anxiety, and a splitting headache combined with the immense pain all over his body. Bob received medical treatment for an acute concussion, severe head & neck pain, dizziness and other injuries. Some of the more disturbing symptoms that are also challenging to deal with consist of difficulty breathing; difficulty maintaining balance as his legs “give out” on him when he least expected them to; the drooping and swelling of the left side of his mouth; and slurring of his words followed by uncontrollable stuttering.

Beyond the visible physical injuries and observable signs of trauma, Bob is also unfairly burdened with the loss and destruction of his photography equipment and some personal property amounting to about $14,000. (See attached Inventory of Items Forcibly Taken.) To add to his pain, Bob lost several well-compensated photo shoots and thus related income (over $500 per job amounting to about $1500), following the attack because of his injuries. Bob has tried to work but soon collapses from severe head pain and dizziness.

It is difficult for many people, especially free-lance workers, with unpredictable work demands and compensation, to carve out personal time off for extended medical care or to quickly raise an enormous amount of funds in order to get back on one’s feet. Equally destructive is the emotional distress caused by not being able to immediately replace his photography equipment or not being able to work because of injuries, which means that he cannot fulfill his work commitments, thereby affecting his professional reputation and pocketbook, etc.

One of the female victims contacted Bob after the attack to express her immense gratitude for his intervention and help. She added that, when they were being surrounded and attacked, the two women were so scared and begged for anyone to help but lost hope until they caught a glimpse of Bob. She suffered minor injuries but her friend was taken to the hospital for more severe injuries.

I hope that Bob’s selfless action resonates widely in the community and that more people would intervene in the future whenever a sister, daughter, friend, co-worker, partner or mother needs help. We can all agree that Bob did the right thing, and so he should not have to suffer the senseless and cruel consequences alone. Restoring faith in the system requires the support of the community to rebuild broken lives, or replace the damaged/missing limbs or personal property.  So, through this GoFundMe campaign and your generous donations, we can join hands to make things as close to being “right” as possible for Bob prior to the brutal attack.

Your generous donation is greatly needed to reach our goal of raising $20,000 to help Bob. This huge dream is only achievable when you, your compassionate friends and caring family members donate what you can afford. The funds will allow Bob to immediately replace his photography equipment and camera bag ($14,000), and the remainder will help cover some of his basic living expenses (e.g. car repair cost estimated over $6,000) while he regains his physical and mental health.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

You can make your contributions at this page to show Bob and our community that being a “good Samaritan” is indeed the right thing to do and that helping the helpless aligns with our core values. Such a venerable and courageous act deserves our respect and support! Show that you “got Bob’s back” by donating whatever amount you feel comfortable!

DONATE – Every contribution, no matter the size will help ease the financial burden so Bob can focus on healing, replacing his tools of the trade and getting back on his feet. *FYI: GoFundMe automatically charges a transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per donation to cover payment processing. That is, a $3.20 fee will be deducted from your $100 donation so $96.80 will go to Bob.

SHARE – Please share this with YOUR community/social networks to spread awareness and increase support. Please ask your trusted family members and friends to donate and share with their networks of families and friends as well.

MORE WAYS TO HELP: In the days to come, aside from your generous donation here (recurring donations carries a deduction of 5%), please consider PURCHASING either a digital file or a print of Bob’s own beautiful photographic work! (Please visit Bob at www.bobhenryphotography.com; or on Instagram at #bobhenry_photography; or Facebook )

Thank you for your prayers, love, and generosity during this unimaginably difficult time.