San Francisco court security officers shot man wielding knife
San Francisco, CA. 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.
According to the complaint, video shows Guyton approaching the officer while brandishing a knife and walking toward the courthouse plaza. The guard fired until Guyton fell to the ground. Guyton was hospitalized and later discharged, and the publicly filed charging papers list a single count of assault on a federal employee. Federal authorities have not issued a separate press release beyond the charging documents, and the criminal case remains pending, as reported by the East Bay Times.
The shooting has stirred fresh anxiety about security around federal buildings, especially in the Bay Area, where a 2020 drive-by attack outside the Oakland federal building killed Federal Protective Service Officer Dave Patrick Underwood. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California later prosecuted that case and secured convictions, a reminder that court security officers and related personnel operate in an environment where routine duty can turn dangerous without warning, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors have charged Guyton with assault on a federal employee under federal law. Under 18 U.S.C. § 111, penalties range from misdemeanor sentences of up to one year to felony terms of up to 20 years in prison if a deadly weapon is used or serious bodily injury results, depending on the conduct alleged, according to the statute text published by the Legal Information Institute.
