On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council will vote to approve $30–million settlement with the family of Konoa Wilson, a teenager who was shot by police earlier this year while running out of the Santa Fe Depot center.
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 George Floyd’s family, 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. He was an officer 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 on the station’s west platform, according to surveillance footage. Daniel Gold, a police officer who had been with the San Diego Police Department for two years at the time, and his partner were responding to another incident in the area when the shooting began.
Wilson ran down a hallway leading out of the station on Kettner Boulevard when he ran into Gold, who was running toward the sound of gunshots. Body camera footage shows Gold immediately firing two shots before announcing himself as a police officer to the boy.
Wilson screamed before collapsing, according to body camera footage. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
While performing CPR, officers found a gun in the teen’s possession. Rowley said Wilson had been targeted by gang members in the area and was carrying the gun in self-defense. Authorities said the individual who first opened fire on Wilson was a 16-year-old boy and was arrested a week after the shooting.
Wilson was an only child, according to Rowley. “This kid loved the ocean,” the attorney told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He didn’t like wearing shoes. If he could, he would be at the beach every day with his dad.”
In 2021, the Minneapolis City Council approved a $27 million settlement for George Floyd’s family. They had filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and four police officers involved in Floyd’s death.
With Wilson’s shooting, the city of San Diego will pay $5 million of the grand sum, the Union-Tribune reported. The remaining $25 million will be paid through the Public Accountability Fund, according to the City Council.
The San Diego city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
