San Francisco Security Guard Charged With Murder Claims Self-Defense

A San Francisco security guard charged with murder claimed self-defense on Wednesday, following a shooting in a Tenderloin parking lot earlier this month.

At an arraignment on Wednesday morning, an attorney for Sefanaia Alatini, 37, argued the security guard was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed a man who fired pepper spray in his direction, according to NBC Bay Area.

Oakland resident Alatini was charged with murder and illegal possession of a firearm, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Announcing the charges at a press conference on Tuesday, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said that the victim attempted to walk away during the Feb. 11 altercation and was shot in the back.

According to court documents, video footage shows Alatini, who was working as a security guard at a parking lot on the 100 block of Turk Street, speaking with the victim shortly before 9 a.m. Alatini appears to walk away from the victim and return with a firearm.

Jenkins told reporters that when Alatini returned, and the victim saw that Alatini had a gun, the man sprayed pepper in Alatini’s direction.

Then, she said, the man turned and began to walk away. The footage then allegedly shows Alatini shoot the victim in the back.

Jenkins said Tuesday that her office will rely heavily on surveillance videos to contradict Alatini’s self-defense claims.

She also noted what will likely be the DA’s argument: that the victim turned away to leave the scene.

“Given that he was shot in the back, that is additional information that we take into account,” Jenkins said.

The court was expected to decide whether to set bail for Alatini on Wednesday afternoon. Currently, he is set to return to court next week for a custody status hearing. A preliminary hearing in his case is scheduled for the following week.