Controversy Surrounds Walgreens Shooting of Trans Organizer Banko Brown

Surveillance footage from a Walgreens in San Francisco shows a private security guard tackling, punching, and fatally shooting Banko Brown, a young transgender man accused of shoplifting. The footage, released by the San Francisco district attorney’s office, has reignited protests demanding criminal prosecution and increased investments in Black trans youth. The district attorney’s office announced it won’t seek charges against the guard, citing insufficient evidence to support the filing of criminal charges. Brown was a budding community organizer known for helping Black transgender youth and had been struggling with homelessness in the weeks before his death.