Two Bayview homeless shelter employees who were arrested last week for allegedly aiding the suspected shooter of San Francisco police officer Brittney Taylor were today charged by the district attorney’s office.
Oliver Barcenas, 36, who was himself shot by police both in 2012 and again in 2018, and his colleague, Erika Porter, 45, are both facing charges of accessory after the fact and obstructing and delaying a police officer. Porter is facing two additional misdemeanor charges for allegedly lying to a police officer.
On Monday afternoon, Porter, who is being represented by lawyer Rose Mishaan due to a conflict of interest with the San Francisco public defender’s office, pleaded not guilty to all charges. Barcenas is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday .
According to statements from the SFPD, on the night of May 31, San Francisco police were pursuing Norris Reed III and a passenger in his vehicle, who were suspected of a robbery in the East Bay, when Reed crashed on a highway exit on Bayshore Boulevard and Jerrold Avenue.
A shootout between Reed and the police at approximately 10:45 p.m. critically wounded Reed’s passenger and Officer Taylor. According to police, Reed ran from his vehicle, and attempted to enter the navigation center across the street, where Barcenas and Porter were both employed.
Police chief Derrick Lew said on Monday that security camera footage showed Barcenas pass Reed a jacket and a hat through an open window to the shelter’s courtyard, helping Reed to hide his identity. Porter, said Lew, told officers that she didn’t know where Reed was, while the suspect sat several feet away from her, out of sight.
“I hope they’re not true,” said Steve Good, the CEO of Five Keys, the nonprofit that runs the shelter, of the allegations last week. “This is deeply troubling and concerning, but also incredibly surprising.”
Good said that he was told by staff, including Barcenas and Porter, that they did their best to placate the armed intruder and evacuate nearly 200 staff and clients from the shelter.
According to Good, Reed, who remained in a gated courtyard outside the shelter before he was arrested, showed staff two firearms in his waistband, and warned them to not call the police. It wasn’t until 12:17 a.m. that the police say they were alerted by a staff member that Reed was in the navigation center, over an hour after he ran from officers.
“It took almost an hour and a half for someone to call 911 after this suspect arrived at the navigation center,” said Lew. “I can only imagine what could have potentially transpired had he not been arrested.”
When asked about claims that staff were threatened to not call the police, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins responded that the footage, which includes audio that was not shared with the public on Monday, shows “clear evidence” that Barcenas and Porter “made a choice” to “aid and abet” Reed.
“The video is stunning,” said Jenkins. “To have employees of this navigation center act in furtherance to assist this individual, knowing that he was armed, knowing that the police were in search of him, is something that we cannot take lightly.”
The charges, said Jenkins, are “not only about not calling the police,” she said. “To misdirect the police,” said Jenkins, “is something very different.”
