Attorney: Muni shooting was clearly self-defense

The man arrested last week following a fatal shooting inside a Muni train will face two counts of felony gun crimes and no homicide charge, according to defense attorney Randy Knox, who called his client’s case a “clear” example of self-defense.

Javon Green, 26, was arrested and booked last week on suspicion of murder, possession of a weapon and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in an incident that left 27-year-old Nesta Bowen dead at the scene. A second victim, a 70year-old man, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

San Francisco police arrested Green the day after the shooting, after publicly circulating images of the suspect taken from the train’s security cameras.

Knox said prosecutors plan to charge Green with having a concealed weapon in a public place and having a loaded gun in a public place. While the counts will be charged as felonies, Knox said there is a possibility of getting them reduced to misdemeanors.

Prosecutors with San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s office on Monday declined to comment. Green was expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday.

Police last week offered few details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting and did not mention the possibility of Bowen attacking Green with a knife.

Surveillance footage obtained by The Chronicle appears to show the alleged shooter being attacked by a man believed to be Bowen with a knife just before he opened fire at his assailant.

The footage begins with the two men sitting next to each other on a sparsely populated train car. The shooter, who is wearing dark clothing and a green hat, matches the description of the image circulated by police and identified as Green.

Knox said he has viewed the surveillance video and that it’s consistent with what his client told him.

Knox also relayed an account of the incident he said was provided by his client and that he said occurred before the events captured on footage viewed by The Chronicle.

Knox said Green twice tried to move away from the man believed to be Bowen. In their first encounter, Green said he and the other man were only the two people on the train, and that the man was mumbling to him and saying “aggressive things.”

Green said he walked away and that the man followed him to the second location on the train, which is where the video starts, Knox said.

Knox said his client witnessed the man take a knife out of his pants and that Green said to him, “‘What are you going to do, stab me?’

“And that’s when he started to run away,” Knox said. “It’s a clear case of self-defense.”

Knox said his client had the gun for self-protection. Green works as a security guard, Knox said, and has been shot at twice in the past.

The video reviewed by The Chronicle begins with the man in dark clothing talking to another man in an orange shirt who is seated next to him. The tenor and content of their conversation isn’t clear — the videos The Chronicle reviewed did not include audio.

At one point, the men stand up, and the man in orange can be seen reaching for something in his back pocket before charging at Green. Green, who is carrying a backpack, quickly backs up as the other man advances. The man in the orange swings at Green’s face with his fist and what appears to be a knife in one hand.

As the melee approaches the end of the train car, Green can be seen holding the gun and shooting at the man in orange, who falls to the floor.

After the shooting, Green is seen walking to the other end of the train car and seemed to say something to the other passengers.

Knox told The Chronicle that Green apologized to the 70-year-old man whom he shot and to other passengers on the train.

The shooting occurred between Forest Hill and Castro stations, and police said Green fled when the train reached Castro Station.