San Francisco District Attorney Not Charging Security Guard Who Allegedly Shot Suspected Shoplifter, Despite Community Uproar

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins decided not to charge a Walgreens security guard with murder for allegedly shooting and killing a suspected shoplifter, she announced Monday, with community members decrying the incident.

Security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony reportedly shot and killed black transgender 24-year-old Banko Brown on Thursday at a San Francisco Walgreens, but was released from police custody Monday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, with Jenkins saying her office had “credible evidence of reasonable self-defense” in the case. Brown was allegedly shoplifting at the time, police indicated.

The killing of Banko Brown was a tragedy & my heart breaks for his friends & family.

After careful review, we are not pursuing murder charges at this time because of credible evidence of reasonable self-defense.

It is my duty to follow the law & evidence wherever it may lead.

— Brooke Jenkins 謝安宜 (@BrookeJenkinsSF) May 2, 2023

“It’s insane that Walgreens has armed security,” Young Women’s Freedom Center (YWFC) President Jessica Nowlan said at a Monday rally outside the store, according to Fox 2 San Francisco. “Nothing in that store is worth a human life, and Walgreens is not taking care of the community.”

YWFC Executive Director Julia Arroyo said Brown struggled with housing, the Chronicle reported. The YWFC asked San Francisco Mayor London Breed to increase transgender youth housing efforts.

Xavier Davenport, Brown’s mentor at the YWFC, told CBS News Bay Area that Brown was “very loving and helpful.” Davenport argued that the Walgreens “has been more harmful to black community.”

“A bunch of people steal from this Walgreens every single day,” Davenport said, according to CBS News Bay Area. Davenport called for holding San Francisco’s Transgender District accountable to helping black transgender youth, Mission Local reported.

Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence activist Geoffrea Morris said San Francisco City Charter Article 25 should be amended, according to the outlet. The law permits private private security to draw a gun “in lawful response to an actual and specific threat to person and/or property.”

“It’s time to shut some shit down,” SF Black Wallstreet organizer Tinisch Hollins said Monday, Mission Local reported. “I came here to deliver a message to San Francisco, to say y’all fucked up. This city has reminded us over and over and over again just how disposable we are.”

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