A confrontation outside the James R. Browning U.S. Courthouse in downtown San Francisco ended in gunfire on Jan. 26, when a court security officer shot a knife-wielding man multiple times, according to federal court filings. The man, identified in those documents as 35-year-old Zachary Norman Guyton, was taken to a hospital and later released. Video cited in the complaint shows Guyton moving toward the guard with a knife in hand, and the officer told investigators he feared for his life.
Prosecutors did not publicly lay out what happened until Tuesday, when they filed charging papers detailing the encounter. Those filings say the officer, a contract guard working through the Federal Protective Service, fired seven shots and struck Guyton four times. The complaint includes video that federal prosecutors say supports their allegation that Guyton assaulted a federal employee, according to the East Bay Times.
The clash unfolded outside the Browning Courthouse at 95 Seventh Street, a landmark federal building that houses the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court’s public website lists the address, along with visitor information for oral arguments and public access, underscoring that this is normally the front door for lawyers and litigants, not armed confrontations…