Where is the Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton? She needs to do her job and indict this killer cop. It is beyond the pale that a subhuman like this cop, Andrew Hall, is allowed to walk the streets. He should be in jail.
It is a stinging indictment of the American law enforcement system that such a horrid man is walking the streets and responsible for protecting the public.
It’s a disgusting outrage. I can’t even bring myself to watch this video of this murder.
The comments by the killer cop’s lawyer, Michael Rains, a proverbial go to hired gun for out of control cops, is equally appalling. He is excusing the murderous behavior of his client.
Top Photo – A video captured by a motorist who declines to be identified depicts the shooting of homeless man Tyrell Wilson, who was shot at point blank range by Danville police officer Andrew Hall on March 11, 2021 in the intersection of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon. Wilson died six days later in a local hospital. The officer contended that Wilson was armed with a folding knife he had refused to relinquish and that he had advanced toward Hall, giving him cause to shoot.
San Francisco Chronicle 4.5.2021
A video obtained Monday by The Chronicle shows the fatal shooting by a Danville police officer of 32-year-old Tyrell Wilson, a homeless Black man who had been staying near a public parking lot used by carpoolers.
Wilson died on March 17 at a local hospital. Civil rights attorney John Burris, who represents Wilson’s family, said that after seeing the body, he concluded that Hall had shot Wilson in the face.
“It’s startling,” Burris said of the video. “It’s hard to watch what took place… The video confirmed to me that Wilson was not an aggressive person.”
The video, taken by a witness to the shooting, does not appear to capture Wilson advance toward Officer Andrew Hall, as Danville police said he did before he was shot on March 11. It shows the two men facing one another, standing feet apart shortly before noon that day at Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon.
They said that Hall gave commands for Wilson to drop the knife and that Wilson had advanced at Hall, prompting Hall to shoot.
In the video, Wilson can be seen clutching a bag in his left hand. For four seconds, Hall appeared to move toward Wilson, as Wilson appeared to step backward. Hall was pointing his gun at Wilson, who was facing him, then Hall shot once, the video shows. Wilson collapses on his back and Hall stands over him.
The video does not show Wilson make any sudden moves toward the officer.
During a march to Danville Police headquarters, Veronica Benjamin leads the family of homeless man, Tyrell Wilson, was shot and killed by the same Danville Police officer who shot and killed Laudemer Arboleda in November 2018. Photographed on Sunday, March 28, 2021, in Danville, Calif.
The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, which contracts to provide police services in Danville, is working with District Attorney Diana Becton to investigate the incident. Hall remains on paid administrative leave and has requested a new assignment outside Danville, which is pending, his attorney Michael Rains said.
Rains said the video “tells nothing about what occurred there,” because it is shaky and shot from an odd angle, and because a road sign obscures the critical movements that precede the shooting.
The bystander’s vantage point also makes it impossible to see whether Wilson is holding a knife, Rains noted, or to hear the verbal exchange between Hall and Wilson, and assess how Wilson responds to Hall’s orders.
“How can you possibly use that as evidence as anything, when you can’t compare the movement you see to the commands that you know were given?” Rains asked. He said he has viewed another video of the incident, captured from a camera on a Tesla, which he argued is more “illuminating.”
This is Hall’s second fatal shooting as a Danville police officer. He is awaiting a charging decision from the Contra Costa County District Attorney in the 2018 killing of Laudemer Arboleda.
As Wilson’s family searches for answers, activists have turned their attention to Danville, an affluent suburb in the San Ramon Valley that sees one homicide a year, at most, according to federal statistics. After two fatal shootings by the same police officer, it has become a flashpoint in a larger debate about policing.
“A lot of this can be solved by de-escalation, and they’re not doing it,” Wilson’s father, Marvin Wilson, told a crowd of demonstrators outside the Danville Police Station on March 28.
Wilson’s voice broke, describing his son as a good-hearted person with a family that cared. Although Tyrell Wilson did not have a home, his father was sending money to support him.
He celebrated his birthday on March 8, three days before the shooting.
Lee's Perspective 