The case centers in part on security footage from the homeless shelter. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has called the video “stunning” evidence that Oliver Barcenas and Erika Porter assisted Reed. The workers’ former supervisor and their accounts, as described by their lawyer, offer a different version: Reed entered the shelter armed, threatened staff and warned them not to call police.

Judge Dawn Payne will consider the video and other evidence at a hearing. The footage has been viewed by prosecutors, Barcenas’ attorney Gabriel Navarrete and the shelter’s former chief executive, Steve Good, but its contents have not been publicly detailed. Good said he reviewed all of it and questioned what prosecutors considered compelling evidence.

The confrontation began after police tried to stop Reed at Mission and First streets at 10:29 p.m. Police said a license-plate surveillance system had linked his car to an armed robbery in the East Bay. Reed drove off with passenger Ariunsanaa Dolgorsuren, and the pair were pursued through several police districts, according to police.

Their car crashed into a highway median on Jerrold Avenue, across from the shelter. San Francisco police body-camera footage appears to show Reed drawing a gun before an exchange of gunfire at about 10:45 p.m. Officer Brittney Taylor and Dolgorsuren were shot and critically wounded. ShotSpotter data indicated 19 shots were fired, according to the account of the incident.

People inside the shelter heard the gunfire. One resident, who asked not to be identified, recalled hearing tires squeal and people shout, saying it sounded as if the shooting had happened just outside the dormitory.

Good and Navarrete said staff initially let Reed into the courtyard because they mistook him for a client. At a security checkpoint, a worker realized he was not a resident and challenged him, Good said. Reed then displayed two firearms and ordered staff not to call police, according to Good.

Navarrete said Barcenas escorted Reed back outside and called a supervisor. Good said the supervisor told staff to do what Reed wanted. For roughly 90 minutes, staff tried to keep him calm in the courtyard while more than 100 clients were inside the center, Good and Navarrete said. Navarrete acknowledged Barcenas gave Reed a beanie and jacket, a detail Jenkins has cited as evidence of assistance.

A resident said Barcenas and other workers eventually evacuated the building. She recalled waiting near the back of the shelter for nearly 45 minutes before officers entered by climbing a fence. At 12:17 a.m., an unidentified female staff member called police and reported that Reed was sitting alone on a bench outside the entrance, according to the account provided.

Jenkins has said the footage shows staff made a choice to help Reed while knowing he was armed and that police were searching for him. She has also criticized the center for waiting more than an hour to contact police. Some officers’ reaction was hostile: an Instagram post shared within the police department the next day insulted shelter staff over the delay.

Good described the episode as a hostage situation and called the workers’ actions heroic. The resident said she feared being shot. “It’s easy to second-guess what someone would do until you’re confronted with someone with two guns,” Good said.

The hearing will determine whether prosecutors’ evidence is sufficient to take the charges against Barcenas and Porter to trial. The competing accounts leave a central question for the court: whether the workers were helping an armed suspect or responding to a threat inside a shelter housing dozens of people.