Friends, family honor beating victim at vigil

A man found brutally beaten in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood last weekend will be taken off life support later today, city Supervisor Scott Wiener said Wednesday morning.

Bryan Higgins, who also went by Feather Lynn, was identified by family as the man found on the ground at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday near the corner of Duboce Avenue and Church Street. San Francisco General Hospital officials were at first unable to identify Higgins, who was found without a wallet or ID.

Higgins’ family and friends are planning a vigil in his honor at 3:33 p.m. today at Duboce Park, near Duboce Avenue and Noe Street, according to Higgins’ husband since last year, Brian Hagerty.

Media reports about his case led a neighbor to alert his family that he was in the hospital. He remains in critical condition at the hospital this morning, hospital spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said.

Police are investigating his case as an attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon and are seeking a suspect described only as a white man in his 20s or 30s wearing a gray sweater.

Higgins and Hagerty were married in December after meeting in Michigan, where they both grew up, when they were both 17 years old. They moved to San Francisco together and were married at City Hall, Hagerty wrote on Facebook.

Higgins described himself on his Facebook profile as a “starving artist” who worked at Rosenburg Delicatessen at 276 Noe St., only a few blocks from where he was found.

Wiener, who represents the district where Higgins was found, said in a statement on Facebook today that he has been in communication with the police regarding the attack, which will become a homicide investigation once Higgins is taken off life support.

He said the police are conducting an extensive and thorough investigation to find the attacker and have good leads in the case.

Wiener linked the attack to escalating crime in the Castro and Upper Market areas:

“We get numb about it, because we see so much, but it needs to be addressed consistently. When you allow criminal behavior to go unchecked, it inevitably escalates and leads to violence.”

He said that smaller crimes in the area need to be addressed in order to prevent more serious crime and that understaffing in The City’s Police Department is preventing a larger presence in the area.