Armed murder-suspect teen back in court after two police chases while on bail for auto burglaries

April 19, 2024

A teen who wrecked a car during a 2023 police chase while armed with an assault rifle, who months later was arrested for murder, and who then wrecked another car during a police chase while armed again – all while on bail for a string of auto burglaries, appeared in San Francisco Superior Court today.

Cameron Haynes appeared out-of-custody before Judge Christine Van Aken for a scheduling hearing. He had earlier secured bail for the nine new felony firearms charges he faces.

Prosecutors say Haynes’ DNA was found on guns discarded in two separate chase incidents – in March and August 2023 – although he was not charged until February of this year.

Haynes is perhaps best known for missing a 2023 court appearance on his auto burglary charges in San Francisco because he had been arrested for murder by Oakland Police Department.

Haynes was previously a ward of the court and was found to have committed second-degree robbery by San Francisco Juvenile Court in September 2022.

On March 8 2023 SFPD officers on patrol in San Francisco’s Portola neighborhood were concerned to see a white Infiniti without a front license plate. They felt it matched the description of one of the vehicles involved in a car-to-car gun battle in the Mission just over a week earlier. The Infiniti fled on to Highway 101 and later was beached on a traffic island near the junction of Jerrold Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard. The pair – later identified as Haynes and the driver, Jacoby Jones – were detained nearby.

In the car police found a loaded .223 AR-15-style assault rifle, on the grip of which Haynes’ DNA was found, and a black Glock 23 Gen 5 .40mm handgun equipped with an extended magazine. Haynes’ cellphone was also seized by police.

On August 27 2023 SFPD officers in San Francisco’s Bayview district attempted to stop a stolen white Infiniti sedan which had been involved in multiple auto burglaries across the city. The driver failed to stop, attempted to flee, and crashed into another car. Two people ran from the car and evaded capture.

In the car police found a black Glock 23 Gen 5 .40mm pistol equipped with an extended magazine. Haynes’ DNA was found on the grip and magazine of the firearm. They also found a virtual reality headset stolen in an auto burglary and other items, including a cellphone, belonging to Haynes.

It later transpired that the stolen car had been seen the previous week being driven by a woman in the vicinity of the Alice Griffiths Apartments in San Francisco.

In February 2024, an assistant district attorney filed a motion to detain, asking the court to keep Haynes in custody – unsuccessfully arguing that there was a substantial likelihood that the defendant’s release would not protect the public nor guarantee his continued appearance in court.

“Defendant does not appear [to] have any prior failure(s) to appear,” the motion accurately noted while omitting the vital caveat that he had failed to appear, on July 17 2023, albeit not voluntarily, as he had been arrested after a judge signed an arrest warrant after finding probable cause the he committed a murder.

The hearing he missed related to charges – 11 felonies and three misdemeanors – stemming from a New Year’s Eve auto break-in spree in San Francisco.

While his extraordinary string of bail victories will doubtless hearten Haynes, they will presumably dismay his criminal rivals, police investigators and the family members of random passers-by who may be caught in the crossfire or run over in his future criminal escapades.

He will next appear on June 11 in Department 20 of San Francisco Superior Court for a preliminary hearing.