Former Danville Cop Not Charged For Fatal Shooting Of Tyrell Wilson

DANVILLE, CA — Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton announced Friday that her office will not file criminal charges against Andrew Hall, a former Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot a man in Danville in March 2021.

The decision means that Hall will not face any additional time for the fatal shooting of Tyrell Wilson, an unhoused man whom a report says brandished a knife at Hall. In March, Hall was sentenced to six years in state prison for the 2018 fatal shooting of Laudemer Arboleda during a slow-speed chase. Hall was convicted in October 2021 of assault with a firearm, but was cleared of charges of voluntary manslaughter.

Arboleda’s family was awarded a $4.9 million wrongful death settlement, the highest payout amount in Contra Costa County since 2015, according to KTVU. Contra Costa County has paid roughly $12 million to settle civil rights suits filed by the families of Arboleda and Wilson, the East Bay Times reported.

The incident with Wilson took place on March 11, 2021, when the California Highway Patrol received multiple calls reporting that someone on the Sycamore Valley Road overpass was throwing rocks onto Interstate 680, according to a Law Enforcement Involved Fatal Incident report released Friday.

Hall responded to the incident and saw that the man, later identified as Tyrell Wilson, matched the description of the suspect. He left his car and then followed Wilson, who reportedly said, “Don’t [expletive] touch me.” Wilson then pulled a folding knife from his jacket and held the blade by his right thigh, and walked away from Hall saying, “Touch me and see what’s up.”

Hall then pointed his gun at Wilson and ordered him to drop the knife three times, according to the report. Wilson then took two to three steps toward Hall, raised the knife to his chest, and said, “Kill me.” Hall took approximately three steps backward and shot Wilson once in the head.

Wilson died of a fatal gunshot wound two days later at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.

The Contra Costa District Attorney studied the Wilson case for 19 months before coming to the conclusion not to file charges, Pleasanton Weekly reported.

“This was a difficult and challenging case,” Becton said in a Friday news release. “My legal team and I spent a considerable amount of time and resources evaluating the evidence before coming to this conclusion. As a community, we need to find ways to de-escalate law enforcement encounters where the use of force leads to tragic outcomes. The loss of Tyrell Wilson’s life weighs on our community and I express my deepest condolences to the Wilson family.”

John Burris, a civil rights attorney who represented Wilson’s family during a lawsuit against Hall and the sheriff’s office, told the East Bay Times that he was disappointed but not surprised by the news. He said the death “wasn’t reasonable and it wasn’t necessary” and that Hall “created a confrontation that he didn’t need to create.”

Hall’s attorney Mike Rains told The Times that he is grateful to D.A. for “making the appropriate and right decision.”

“I don’t think the law concerning self-defense says that a police officer has to have a knife stuck within their body before they defend themselves,” he said.