After being asked by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to review a decision by District Attorney Brooke Jenkins not to file charges in the April 2023 shooting of Banko Brown by a Walgreens security guard, the California Attorney General's Office has come back with a response, one year later.
Jenkins made the controversial decision days after the shooting not to charge 33-year-old security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony. Brown was shot on April 27, 2023 just outside the door of the Walgreens on Market Street near Union Square. Brown, a 24-year-old trans man, had allegedly been shoplifting candy, and was seen on surveillance video getting into a physical altercation with Anthony, who ended up shooting Brown and saying that he felt his life was in danger.
At the time, Jenkins said, "The evidence clearly shows that the suspect believed he was in mortal danger and acted in self-defense."
In late May, 2023, the California Attorney General's office agreed to look into the evidence in the case and make a determination if Jenkins made the correct charging decision. Supervisor Aaron Peskin even introduced a formal resolution urging AG Rob Bonta to act, as well as the federal Department of Justice.
It's been a full year, but now the Chronicle has obtained a letter from the AG's office to the board. In it, Deputy Attorney General Peter Flores Jr. says that Jenkins's decision was justifiable — or, at least, they can't say she "abused [her] discretion" in making it.
Flores said the office had "carefully reviewed" all the evidence in the case, and "Based on that review and taking all of the circumstances into consideration, we cannot say that the San Francisco County District Attorney’s Office abused its discretion in declining to file criminal charges against security guard Michael Anthony."
The outrage was quick and loud over the shooting of Brown, particularly because it seemed so unnecessary and senseless — this happened over $14 worth of stolen candy, and Brown was reportedly frequently homeless. Also, while the surveillance video, which was released over a week after Jenkins's charging decision, showed a testy, very physical fight that occurred between Brown and Anthony, it didn't visually look like a fair fight — Anthony was far larger than Brown and easily took him down to the ground when the scuffle began.
When Anthony spoke with investigators, he indicated that Brown was verbally threatening to kill him, and that he could not be sure Brown was not armed.
The case also prompted surprise over the fact that a Walgreens security guard would be armed with a deadly weapon at all.
The case prompted legislation that was introduced last fall by Supervisor Dean Preston that would make it illegal for a security guard to unholster a weapon in San Francisco in the protection of property.
A civil case brought by Brown's family is ongoing,
