SAN FRANCISCO—Six years ago, KitKat became Randa’s Market’s pet and unofficial mascot, given the nicknamed ‘the Mayor of 16th Street,’ becoming local royalty. He often sat in a cardboard box in front of the shop’s drink refrigerator, becoming one of the neighborhood’s favorite shop’s cats.
He was featured in a SFGate article to showcase favorite shop cats. Randa’s Market is located on 16th Street between Valencia Street and Albion Street.
On Monday, October 27 at 11:30 p.m., an employee at Delirium, which was the bar next to Randa’s Market woke up Mike Zeidan, the owner of Randa’s Market, with a phone call to tell him that a self-driving Waymo vehicle had hit the bodega cat, KitKat, while driving down 16th Street. Zeidan and his wife came to take him to an emergency vet, but he did not survive.
Since the incident took place, a small shrine has been set up, where he took his last breath, to honor the cat. There are now cards with heartfelt messages, bouquets of flowers and burning candles in remembrance of KitKat.
Waymo responded to the incident noting that while they were pulling away, a cat darted underneath the vehicle. Waymo sends their regrets and they will be donating to a local San Francisco animals rights organization.
