San Diego police have released the causes of death of a 40-year-old woman and her 2-year-old son who plunged from the third level of San Diego’s Petco Park before a Padres game in September 2021.
Raquel Wilkins’ death on Sept. 25, 2021, has been classified as a suicide, and her son Denzel Browning-Wilkins’ death has been ruled a homicide, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, citing a statement from the San Diego Police Department Wednesday.
Dan Gilleon, the attorney representing Wilkins’ father, mother and sisters, questioned the ruling and said the deaths were a tragic accident. He said the investigation’s conclusion is meant to shield the city of San Diego — which owns 70 percent of Petco Park — from potential litigation in the deaths of the mother and son.
San Diego police homicide Lt. Andra Brown said in a statement Wednesday that they came to the homicide-suicide conclusion after detectives conducted a “thorough and comprehensive” investigation that included conducting dozens of interviews, reviewing of available video footage and collecting background information to determine what led to the deaths.
The determinations were made in consultation with the San Diego County Medical Examiner, police said.
The Wilkins family’s lawyer, however, said Wednesday that police have “refused to provide us an ounce of information” and “flat out refused to explain” how they concluded Wilkins took her own life and that of her son.
Brown wrote in an email to the San Diego Union-Tribune that homicide investigators “do not typically (release) information to the suspect’s family.” She clarified that police told Wilkins’ family about their findings but didn’t elaborate whether the family received information about how they came to it.
Gilleon said he believes that this is a convenient ruling to shield San Diego from liability.
“The city of San Diego owns that ballpark, it is legally responsible, assuming that what caused her to fall was anything but her intent,” the lawyer said. “The only way the city is not at fault is if she intended to kill herself and her baby.”
At the time of the deaths, a witness told the San Diego Union-Tribune, through a statement released by her daughter, that the mother and son were jumping up and down on the bench of a picnic table near a railing at an eating concourse.
According to the unidentified witness, they seemed to be very happy. She said she had noticed that the woman and child lost their balance and nearly fell over, and was surprised to see them standing on the bench again.
However, the woman again lost her balance, but this time, she fell over the edge, according to the witness, who added, “From my vantage point, looking at her back, it was almost like she rolled over the railing.”
Gilleon said it was “extraordinarily dangerous and stupid” that the picnic tables were so close to the railing, which is only a few feet high. The lawyer added that the city is required to keep people on its property safe just like any other property owner.
Gilleon had accused the city of blaming the deaths on Wilkins almost immediately after the fall last year. Just two days after the deaths, Mayor Todd Gloria said in part to Fox5 San Diego that “there is no need to harm a child, to traumatize others in our community.”
Gloria later apologized to the Wilkins family for his remarks. But the lawyer pointed out that city police went to the media four months later and said that the mayor was right to blame Wilkins for the deaths.
“The city doesn’t want to explain why it concluded that a young mother would kill her only child at an event where witnesses said she was happy,” Gilleon said to the Associated Press. “To me, the city is acting like any other defendant in a lawsuit: blame the victim, especially if they are not able to defend themselves.”
If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.
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