On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council will vote to approve a $30 million dollar settlement with the family of Konoa Wilson, a teen who was shot earlier this year by police as he ran out of the Santa Fe Depot downtown.
This settlement could be the largest ever resulting from a police killing in the United States, surpassing the $27 million settlement the city of Minneapolis reached with the family of George Floyd, the Wilson family attorney, Nicholas Rowley, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“I’ve never seen a city take responsibility so quickly,” Rowley said. “It’s really noble. It really is. It was an officer out there trying to keep people safe. It was a mistake.”
On the night of Jan. 28, Wilson, 16, ran away from an individual who began shooting at him at the station’s west platform, according to surveillance footage. Daniel Gold, a two-year police officer with the San Diego Police Department at the time, and his partner were responding to another incident in the area when the shooting began.
Wilson ran down a corridor exiting the station on Kettner Boulevard when he ran into Gold, who was jogging toward the sound of shots. Body camera footage shows Gold immediately firing two shots before announcing himself as police to the boy.
Wilson screamed before he collapsed, according to body camera footage. He was transported to a hospital, where he later died.
While performing CPR, officers found a handgun in the teenager’s possession. Rowley said Wilson had been the target of gang members in the area and carried the gun for self-defense. Authorities said the individual who first opened fire on Wilson was a 16-year-old juvenile, and was arrested one week after the shooting.
Wilson was an only child, according to Rowley. “This boy loved the ocean,” the attorney said to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He didn’t like wearing shoes. He’d be at the beach every day with his dad if he could.”
In 2021, the Minneapolis City Council approved a $27 million settlement to the family of George Floyd. They had filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and four police officers involved in Floyd’s death.
With the Wilson shooting, the city of San Diego is set to pay $5 million of the large sum, as reported by the Union-Tribune. The remaining $25 million will be paid through the Public Liability Fund, according to the City Council.
The San Diego city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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