SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – San Diego city officials are considering a $30 million settlement with the family of 16-year-old Konoa Wilson, who was fatally shot by police last January, in what could become one of the largest payouts in a U.S. police-involved killing case. The proposed resolution is scheduled for the city council’s agenda on Tuesday morning.
Wilson’s family attorney, Nick Rowley, described the shooting as “a catastrophic failure of policing,” stating that the teenager was running for his life and posed no threat when a police officer shot him in the back. If approved, the settlement would surpass the $27 million Minneapolis paid the family of George Floyd following his death in 2020.
Footage from surveillance and body-worn cameras showed Wilson fleeing from an individual who fired a gun at him in a downtown train station. As Wilson exited the station, he encountered Officer Daniel Gold of the San Diego Police Department. The family’s lawsuit, filed in June, alleges that Gold fired two shots without warning, striking Wilson in the upper body. The complaint states that Gold only identified himself as police after Wilson had fallen to the ground, and describes the shooting as an act of racial violence against the Black teenager trying to reach safety.
Wilson was pronounced dead less than an hour later at UC San Diego Health Medical Center. The settlement, if approved, would be paid from the city’s Public Liability Fund.