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VIDEO: Bystander records deputy killing a homeless man.
DANVILLE — Calling a Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy “a killer,” attorneys said they will file a federal lawsuit on behalf of the family of homeless Black man fatally shot by the deputy last month.
A video released by John Burris’s law firm shows Deputy Andrew Hall shooting and killing 32-year-old Tyrell Wilson from a distance of a few feet, less than 2½ years after the same deputy shot and killed another man in Danville.
The video — shot by an eyewitness to the March 11 incident from about a half-block away — moves behind a car door moments before the fatal shot is fired, but it shows Wilson taking a step back from Hall and the deputy stepping toward him shortly before the shot.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the parking lot of the Sycamore Valley park-and-ride in Danville, a large sign at the press conference showed a picture taken from a driver’s filmed footage of Hall pointing a gun directly at Wilson.
Attorney Ben Nisenbaum called Hall “a killer,” and added that if Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton did not prosecute Hall, “she should quit, and the county should find somebody who can try this as the murder it was.”
Nisenbaum said the video’s apparent depiction of Wilson falling backward supports arguments that Wilson “has his hounds down. How does (Hall) shoot him? This is murder!” and posed no threat: “There’s no forward movement (by Wilson). The only one who closed the distance was the officer.”
Both Nisenbaum and Burris pointed out that the video shows Hall had his gun pointed at Wilson’s head before Wilson ever turned around. Burris, who said that his office has received more than one video submission, added that others who knew Wilson have emphasized how “he wasn’t aggressive or violent. He was very, very likable.”
Burris summed up his assessment of the jeopardy Wilson, who was living at the park-and-ride site, faced before ever encountering Hall last month: “[He] had three strikes against him. He was African-American. He was homeless. And he was [in] emotional distress and mental impairment.”
Burris said his office wants to see Hall fired, his service certificate revoked and eventually tried for murder: “You don’t arbitrarily take a life just because you can.”
Wilson’s father, Marvin, a former civilian deputy in Southern California for 31 years, said of Hall’s actions: “I feel like one of my brothers took my son away from me without any cause. That’s one of the many things that makes it hurt so much.”
Speaking of his son’s actions, Wilson was equally succinct: “If you all were walking down the street, and somebody followed you from behind for a distance, 9 out of 10 of you would turn around. That’s all Tyrell did.”
The sheriff’s office said in a news release following the shooting that Wilson pulled out a folding knife when confronted by the deputy, who suspected Wilson of throwing rocks at cars.
“Wilson never had a chance,” Burris said in a Monday news release, adding that he sent a letter to Becton asking Hall to be charged criminally. Burris said 25 minutes went by before anyone attempted to render medical aid to the wounded Wilson.
Burris also contested the allegation that Wilson was throwing rocks at cars, saying Wilson was walking to the homeless encampment where he was known to stay.
A spokesman for the sheriff’s office, which declined comment after a protest march and vigil March 29 from the shooting site to Danville police headquarters, did not respond to requests for comment. An attorney with the law firm that represents Hall also did not return a call for comment Tuesday.
For Hall, the fatal shooting was the second time he’s gunned down a man in Danville under controversial circumstances. In November 2018, Hall shot and killed 33-year-old Laudemer Arboleda during a daytime slow-speed police chase in Danville.
In that incident, video shows Hall stopping his car, exiting, and running around the other side of a sedan driven by Arboleda. Hall then backpedals, firing his pistol as he does so, then continues to shoot as the car travels past him. He later testified at an inquest hearing he was afraid Arboleda would run him over. An internal probe by the sheriff’s office cleared Hall, but the District Attorney is still investigating the matter.
Hall was placed on paid leave after shooting Wilson, a sheriff’s spokesman said at the time.
Burris is also representing Arboleda’s family in an active federal suit.
