This is the kind of crazy story that could only happen in San Francisco. It started on May 31 when a man later identified as Norris Reed III fled from police, crashed his car and wound up shooting a female officer.
…officers were alerted at about 10:29 p.m. Sunday when a license plate reader flagged a vehicle linked to a robbery in the East Bay entering San Francisco via the Bay Bridge.
“We were alerted via an LPR hit, that a vehicle associated with a robbery that was perpetrated in East Bay came into our city and that’s why we became involved,” Lew said.
Officers located the vehicle near Fifth and Folsom streets, with two people inside. When officers attempted a traffic stop near Mission and First streets, the driver fled, leading officers on a pursuit through city streets, police said.
The vehicle later became disabled near Bayshore Boulevard and Jerrold Avenue. Authorities said the driver then opened fire on officers, striking one officer multiple times. Officers returned fire at the suspect vehicle.
To be clear, there were two people inside the car. One of them was hit by police as they returned fire. The police officer who was shot was identified as Brittney Taylor. She survived but was seriously injured.
Law enforcement sources identified the wounded officer as Brittney Taylor. She has been with the department for nearly 10 years. She was recognized last year in a San Francisco Police Department Facebook post for saving someone’s life in the South of Market neighborhood.
“She’s an extremely popular officer who’s known for her hard-nosed work ethic,” Lew said.
Taylor was in the hospital for three weeks and was applauded by fellow officers when she was discharged.
An incredible scene at SF General Hospital on Thursday afternoon. 8-yr veteran SFPD Officer Brittney Taylor received a hero’s sendoff from a massive formation of first responders as she was officially discharged, less than 3 wks after surviving a line-of-duty shooting. 👇 #ktvu pic.twitter.com/pNuLTvskWV
— Amber Lee (@AmberKTVU) June 19, 2026
Anyway, up to this point it’s a story that could probably happen in any big city. But here’s where it gets weird. While police were busy saving Taylor’s life, the suspect who fired the shots, Norris Reed, fled to a nearby homeless shelter. And there, according to police he was given help to escape by two of the shelter’s staff members. Those two individuals were arrested last week.
Two employees of a Bayview homeless shelter were arrested Thursday, accused of helping an armed gunman evade police after he shot an SFPD officer in May. The nonprofit that runs the shelter disputed the police account, saying its staff were actually de-escalating a dangerous standoff to evacuate 125 people safely.
Officials said Oliver Barcenas, 36, and Erika Porter, 45, helped alleged gunman Norris Reed III evade capture after he fled the scene of the May 31 shooting on foot and entered the Bayshore Navigation Center.
As you can see, the shelter is denying their employees did anything wrong, but police say they have surveillance video showing Barcenas and Porter helping Reed.
At 12:17 am, over an hour after Reed III fled the scene, dispatch received a call stating that the suspect was inside the gate of the navigation center. Officers responded to the fenced courtyard of the navigation center and placed Reed III under arrest. During the arrest, officers seized two firearms from the suspect’s waistband.
With assistance from the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, SFPD officers reviewed surveillance footage from the navigation center showing Barcenas providing Reed III with clothing to conceal his identity despite knowing that he was in possession of a firearm when he entered the navigation center.
Additionally, when officers had earlier visited the navigation center while searching for the suspect, Porter gave false statements to the police to prevent the officers from locating him.
They were arrested Thursday and today they were charged. They are of course telling a very different story.
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.
But DA Brooke Jenkins says that’s not the case and she has the proof.
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.
And there’s one more twist in this story. Why would anyone seek to help someone who shot a cop evade the law? Barcenas, the man accused of helping disguise Reed, has been shot twice by the police. The last time was in 2018:
At 12:17 a.m. June 9, San Francisco Police Department Officer Joshua Cabillo stepped out of the passenger side of a patrol car on Grant Avenue and Vallejo Street, a block from Broadway. He’d spotted four heavyset guys drinking beers on the corner after the Waaaaarriorrrrrrrrrs’ sweeping victory. He approached them alone while his partner parked the car.
Carrying an open alcohol container is a citable offense. A veteran cop might have written up a ticket, or perhaps let the revelers off with a warning. Either way, according to Carl T, a retired 32-year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department, it’s a small infraction. The cop’s goal should have been to get the guys moving to avoid further hassle during a crowded, impromptu party night.
Instead, this particular cop decided to be aggressive. What transpired was a 36-second interaction followed by a 7-second pursuit that concluded with Cabillo shooting Oliver Barcenas, 28, in the back as Barcenas ran away.
Why did Barcenas run? Well, he had a gun on him, which he tried to ditch in the gutter seconds before he was shot. Also, he’d been shot by police before, back in 2012.
In 2012, current Assistant Chief Toney Chaplin shot Barcenas three times during a foot chase in the Mission District in which Barcenas carried a loaded Tec-9 semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine.
Then-SFPD Chief Greg Suhr hailed Chaplin as a hero for the shooting, the San Francisco Examiner reported at the time. Police said Barcenas, a known member of the Norteno gang, was planning to commit a gang-related killing that night in the southern part of the Mission District.
So a former gang member twice shot by police is the guy who handed Reed some clothes to help him escape. That makes more sense. Still, it’s the kind of thing that only seems to happen in San Francisco.
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