Home Courts DA Declines To Prosecute Imprisoned Danville Deputy For Death Of Tyrell Wilson

DA Declines To Prosecute Imprisoned Danville Deputy For Death Of Tyrell Wilson

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Family photo of Tyrell Wilson, (l), and a still photo of Wilson, knife in hand, captured by Andrew Hall's body worn camera.

From the Office of the District Attorney:

Martinez, Calif. – The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office will not file criminal charges against Deputy Andrew Hall in the 2021 fatal shooting of Tyrell Wilson, as detailed in a Law Enforcement Involved Fatal Incident (LEIFI) report released today.

The report is part of Contra Costa County’s protocol that investigates when police officers or civilians are shot or die during an encounter with law enforcement. The document summarizes the District Attorney’s independent investigative report of the incident, contains a legal analysis, and concludes with a charging decision.

The incident involving Deputy Andrew Hall and Tyrell Wilson occurred on March 11, 2021, in the Town of Danville. On that date around 11:45 am, the California Highway Patrol received multiple calls reporting that someone on the Sycamore Valley Road overpass was throwing rocks onto Interstate 680. Deputy Hall responded to the location and saw a man, later identified as Tyrell Wilson, who matched the description of the suspect.

Deputy Hall exited his vehicle and followed Wilson into the intersection while engaging in a verbal back-and-forth. During the encounter, Wilson told Deputy Hall: “No. Don’t [explicative] touch me!” Then, Wilson retrieved a folding knife from his jacket and held the blade by his right thigh — which was oriented forward. Hall (sic) then proceeded to take five steps away from Deputy Hall while saying, “Touch me and see what’s up. Touch me and see what’s up.”

Deputy Hall unholstered his firearm, pointed it at Wilson, and ordered him to “Drop the knife” three times. Wilson took 2-3 steps towards Deputy Hall, raised the knife up to his chest, looked up at the sky, and said, “Kill me.” Deputy Hall then took approximately three steps backward and shot Wilson once in the head, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Wilson was transported by ambulance to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. He died from a fatal gunshot wound two days later.

The LEIFI report details the encounter between Deputy Hall and Tyrell Wilson, summarizes the opinions and analyses of two use-of-force experts, and includes an extensive legal analysis that led to a charging decision. The full report is available on the District Attorney’s Office’s website. The Wilson family was advised in person before the report was published, and a copy of the report has been sent to state Attorney General Rob Bonta.

D.A. Becton notes that “This was a difficult and challenging case. 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.”

Former Deputy Hall was sentenced to six years in prison for the shooting death of Laudemer Arboleda, shot multiple times at the end of a 2018 slow-speed police pursuit in Danville.

25 COMMENTS

  1. Horrible story with lethal consequences and even though I wasn’t there and wasn’t making the deicisions I can’t help but think alternative tactics could have been used. Just my two cents – and I know there are a lot of people out there in need of help.

  2. Having been in the area immediately after the shooting that day, I’ve followed this case closely. I am grateful that Burris’ team was able to get civil settlements for the two families of those killed by Andrew Hall. I plan to read the report on the D.A.’s website and appreciate the transparency provided to the public in that regard.

  3. Police work has to be difficult and stressing. A balance has to be struck every day! So, we would hope to hire only the best qualified, and those with a suitable temperament. Instead, we have statements from the Sherrif both before and after conviction supporting this cowboy. Let the taxpayers pick up the tab, I guess. It seems the Sherrif would put him right back on the street given his druthers. That is far more worrying to me than whether Mr. Hall serves additional time.

    • david,

      You’ve obviously never have had a mentally unstable person with a knife walk in your direction. We’re lucky Deputy Hall took the action he did.

      Firestone 11R

      • Were lucky he killed a man??? I don’t think Hall himself (who is having some time away to think about it) would call it lucky he killed that person or the one before.

          • It’s likely that with more patience and a competent officer the situation could have been resolved without the death of the victim. His conviction in a separate case proves he’s incompetent in my mind. It’s not like the only alternative was to shoot him. We are having some serious issues with policemen in our county (see Antioch) and somehow we need to weed out the bad ones before it gets this far.

      • You defend this killer as “Deputy Hall”. He has been convicted of a wrongful killing in the line of duty prior to this second killing. It is true that the conviction came after the second killing, but the circumstances of the first killing were clear. Nevertheless, this killer was given the cover of authority and a gun by our sheriff with his blessing and yours.

          • Beyond a Reasonable Doubt does NOT allow for grey. This was a UNANIMOUS verdict on the facts of the case. Officer Hall is not the victim. YOU are not a victim in this.

      • As I’m sure you noticed, 47 deputies in Alameda County were recently ABRUPTLY stripped of the aforementioned authority that “Deputy Hall” was carrying when he shot and killed Mr. Wilson. This was due to failed psych evaluations which rendered them UNFIT to serve.

        It seems that deputies are people, too, although perhaps more prone to stress-related difficulties such as divorce, alcohol abuse, and domestic violence than John and Jane Doe. So, when you, or any POA, lionize all deputies and find them all faultless, it is naked pretense. In the sampling of all Americans, they are no more Captain America than the rest of us mortals.

          • Exactly! Unfit one day and carrying a gun and a badge the next.
            Clearly, not everyone can do or should attempt to do this kind of work.
            We need professional standards and laws to protect us from bad apples being passed from one town’s police department to another.

          • I cannot assess the fitness of any of the 47 individuals, but 47 is a big pile of unfit psych ratings. It is probable that many are in the wrong line of work or have burned out, and the public will pay for that one way or another.

  4. First the guy was throwing rocks on cars and could have killed someone. Then a cop is ordered to the scene. The guy refuses to obey the cop’s orders and then approaches the cop with a knife and says “kill me”. What about the people who could die because the copy is busy with this rock-thrower, and the people who could die when this guy is let out after a week or two in jail or a temporary facility for the mentally ill and he does this again? Feel sorry for the cop and the people who had to dodge rocks on the highway. The mentally ill guy is out of his misery as well, and before he killed someone.

    • So it was a mercy killing? We’re better off because he’s dead? And it’s a police officer’s job to shoot and kill people like him?

      • Adam,

        Unfortunately police officers sometimes have to shoot and kill people, I came very close……….many times.

        Firestone 11R

      • @Adam,

        No, he should have been in a mental institution so he wasn’t a menace to the public, and so the cop didn’t have to shoot him.

        I really think that everyone sounding off about how the cop shouldn’t have shot him should have to stand out on the street facing a mentally ill person who is brandishing a knife. After that experience they can get back to us on how the cops shouldn’t have done this or that.

  5. It was a case of suicide by cop if you read the publicly available transcript. Unfortunate, but justified action by the Officer.

    • Yes, but was it professional? It was an aggressive pursuit. He pursued the suspect into a multi-lane busy intersection. No time for back up? What was the urgency? Rocks weren’t being thrown. Why the escalation with a possibly “altered” suspect? I support the police. I depend upon them. I am concerned about police competence and equal justice under the law. The suspect did not seek this suicide opportunity. It was thrust upon him.

      David DePape was reportedly on a “suicide” mission. He may be “altered”. He was arrested. He’s not dead. Why is that? It’s police competence, and also the thing that shall not be named.

  6. Given a choice of Hall shooting a man who came at him with a knife or having that same man kill someone by throwing rocks over the overpass, I’m not going with the latter. Throwing rocks over the overpass isn’t any different than the a-holes throwing bricks. Both can kill. The anti-cop crowd are pathetic. They are self-loathing, criminal coddling jerks.

  7. “Given a choice of Hall shooting a man who came at him with a knife or having that same man kill someone by throwing rocks over the overpass, I’m not going with the latter.”
    Well, yeah, but that wasn’t the choice given him, was it? You have built a straw man argument. Go ahead, blow on it, and it falls down because it is deliberately false, insubstantial, and not real.

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