Anger in San Francisco over lack of charges in Walgreens shooting
San Francisco residents ripped into city leaders Tuesday after District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced that her office would not be filing charges against the private security guard who allegedly shot and killed 24-year-old Banko Brown in front of a Walgreens store last week.
Nowhere was the anger more visible than at City Hall. More than two dozen community members rose to speak during a Board of Supervisors meeting, where they called on elected officials to do something in response to Brown's killing. Many were visibly emotional and didn't mince words when speaking to the board.
“The death of Banko Brown ... was nothing short of a lynching,” one speaker said. “And anyone that stands beside that is standing beside lynching. There is no gray area there. San Francisco’s current approach to public safety is not safe at all, nor is it public. It is organized coercion, organized violence against our communities. We keep our communities safe, and we demand that you get your boots off our necks.”
Brown, a transgender Black man, was shot and killed outside the Walgreens on Market and Fourth streets near Union Square on April 27 following an alleged shoplifting incident. The alleged shooter — 33-year-old Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony — was initially booked into jail by police but was released Monday after Jenkins announced that her office would not be pressing charges. A statement from Jenkins said evidence showed that Anthony, a security guard under contract at Walgreens, felt he was in “mortal danger” and was acting in self-defense when he shot Brown.
“We reviewed witness statements, statements from the suspect, and video footage of the incident and it does not meet the People’s burden to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury that the suspect is guilty of a crime,” Jenkins said.
Her decision did not sit well with those in attendance at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting. Many held makeshift signs that said, “Justice for Banko Brown,” and similar verbal chants were made throughout the hearing. One person offered no comment except to loudly shriek into the microphone, which she said was meant to exemplify how transgender people in the U.S. feel in the current political climate. Others demanded that city leaders resign, and several called out Jenkins by name.
“I know plenty of my white girlfriends who actually shoplift, and they don’t get f—king killed,” one resident said. “… Frankly, I don’t care if this extrajudicial killing leads to riots, looting and graffiti. A life was lost, and lives are more important than property. Brooke Jenkins should f—king resign.”
Many expressed confusion as to why a security guard at Walgreens would be armed with a firearm in the first place.
“I honestly try to be pretty involved in what’s going on in the city, but I think I somehow missed the part where private corporations like Walgreens are able to have their own private militias here in the streets of San Francisco,” one person said. “Why was Banko Brown killed? Murdered over what? Some shampoo? A frickin' bag of chips? Are you kidding me? ... And I want to see a lot more here from you all today than the blank looks on your faces and blank words and platitudes.”
Board President Aaron Peskin called a short recess during the public comment section of the meeting as it became clear he was losing control of the chamber. After the public comment section of Tuesday's meeting, Peskin said that he would be asking Jenkins to reconsider her decision.
“I am deeply concerned — based on my conversations with law enforcement — by the district attorney’s decision not to charge at least manslaughter,” he said. “… I am inclined to have this board through formal action ask the district attorney to reconsider and reexamine that decision, which I was struck by.”
Other members of the board also offered comments following the public outcry, with District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton stating, “You do not have the right to execute someone for shoplifting,” and “The DA most certainly should be charging in this case.”
District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey — a Jenkins ally who represents the district in which the shooting occurred — told SFGATE after the meeting he'd like to review the evidence himself before he votes for anything related to reconsideration that Peskin puts before the board.
During the meeting, several members of the public and District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston called on Jenkins to release the security footage Jenkins said her office was in possession of. When SFGATE asked Dorsey whether he agrees with Preston and the residents, Dorsey said he has yet to speak with Jenkins and believes members of the Board of Supervisors should not preempt the offices of other elected officials without speaking to them first.
“I’m just not going to get in front of an elected prosecutor just as I wouldn’t the city attorney or another office,” Dorsey said. “I want to make sure we’re doing our job as legislators, so I’m hesitant to weigh in right now, but I have a lot more information to get about this.”
The anger was not limited to Tuesday's board meeting. Residents staged a vigil outside the Walgreens Monday, where several people expressed similar sentiments. Officials at nonprofits across San Francisco also released statements following Brown's death.
“This Walgreens has been more harmful to black community more than anything. A bunch of people steal from this Walgreens every single day. I know because I used to be a loss prevention manager for Old Navy for years, for almost more than a decade,” Brown’s purported mentor, Xavier Davenport, told KPIX-TV at the vigil. “Why this black young boy had to be taken away from so senseless from something that everyone in this community and everyone around San Francisco does?”
SFGATE politics editor Eric Ting contributed to this report.
Source: SFGATE
