Less than a week after being sworn into office, San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was charged Friday with domestic violence and two other misdemeanors in connection with a New Year’s Eve dust-up with his wife, a Venezuelan former telenovela star.

District Attorney George Gascon said prosecutors have also requested an emergency protective order prohibiting Mirkarimi from having contact with his wife and son while police investigate other possible incidents of domestic abuse.

If convicted, Mirkarimi — assuming he resists tremendous pressure to resign from office and end his political career — would be California’s only sheriff barred from carrying a gun.

Mirkarimi said late Friday that he intends to remain in office. “The charges are very unfounded,” he told reporters at City Hall. “We will fight the charges.”

His wife, Eliana Lopez, stood with him and told reporters: “This is unbelievable. I don’t have any complaint against my husband.”

Lopez had gone to a neighbor’s house after the New Year’s Eve incident with a bruised arm. Police said the neighbor reported the bruise was the result of Mirkarimi grabbing his wife during a heated argument.

Mirkarimi later called the episode “a private matter, a family matter” that had been blown out of proportion. But his statement angered some advocates for women and abuse victims, who say that domestic violence should not be dismissed as a “private matter.”

The neighbor’s videotape of the bruise as well as text messages between the neighbor and Lopez led Gascon to charge the 50-year-old Mirkarimi with domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness.

It was not immediately clear whether the witness was his wife or another person.

“Whether this was the elected sheriff or any other San Francisco resident, this type of behavior is inexcusable, criminal and will be prosecuted,” the district attorney said. He acknowledged that a case may be stronger when a victim is willing to testify, but Gascon also said it’s not uncommon to prosecute cases in which the alleged victim is reluctant or afraid to cooperate.

“Regardless of whether the victim supports a prosecution, it is the state’s and my office’s obligation to ensure the safety of the victim,” he added.

While the district attorney said an arrest warrant had been issued for Mirkarimi, the sheriff said he planned to turn himself in for fingerprinting. “We are cooperating,” he said.

Veteran San Francisco political consultant Dan Newman called the situation “serious stuff made worse by being mishandled” by Mirkarimi.

“He’s warm bread on his way to being toast,” Newman said.

The case has had San Francisco’s political establishment on the edge of its seat for more than week. Mirkarimi, a Green-turned-Democrat who had served as a San Francisco supervisor since 2005, mustered the city’s progressive vote to beat out three other candidates for the sheriff job in November. He succeeded Michael Hennessey, who had become an institution by serving as sheriff since 1980, even though the deputies’ union overwhelmingly supported a candidate from within the department’s own ranks.

State law provides for Mirkarimi’s involuntary removal from office only if convicted of a felony, not a misdemeanor.

Mayor Ed Lee has the authority to charge Mirkarimi with official misconduct and suspend him from office, according to John St. Croix, executive director of the city’s Ethics Commission. After possible hearings, the commission could make a recommendation to the board of supervisors about whether to reinstate him or permanently remove him from office.

In a statement issued late Friday, the mayor called the charges “extremely serious and troubling” and said he would “review the facts and options available to me under the City Charter.”

Staff writer Brandon Bailey and The Associated Press contributed to this report.