San Diego prosecutors will not charge officer who fatally shot teen in the back, despite parents receiving $30M settlement from city

Officer Daniel Gold was responding to gunfire at the San Diego Depot on Jan. 28 around 9 pm when he encountered Konoa Wilson, the teen who had been the target of the initial shots, according to reports.

Wilson was seen on surveillance footage fleeing his assailants, but he turned a corner to exit the depot as Gold was approaching, and within a split second he was mortally wounded.

Wilson was later found to have a concealed firearm in his pants but did not have the weapon drawn when Gold shot him and appeared, based on the bodycam footage, to be running away from Gold as he fired.

However, the San Diego District Attorney's Office said that, based on the available evidence, it did not have enough to convict Gold criminally.

"The loss of this young person's life is devastating. Our extensive review of the totality of the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident lead us to the conclusion that criminal charges against Gold could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt," prosecutors said in a statement, reported by NBC 7.

"We are not able to make a determination that Gold's actions were justified, rather we have determined the evidence does not demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Gold's belief was unreasonable," the statement added.

According to a review of the case, Gold believed that his partner, who was responding on the other side of the depot, had just been shot and feared for his own life when Wilson approached him running at a high speed.

"Gold explained his belief that most people who are victims or witnesses to gunfire often put their hands up and signal to officers where the shooting or the threat is," the review said. "Because [Wilson] was not doing this and because [Wilson] appeared to Gold to be reaching for a handgun, Gold feared for his life, so he fired two shots."

Wilson's parents sued the city, resulting in one of the largest settlements to date in US history for a police-related shooting, with the next-largest being the $27 million given to the family of George Floyd after he died in the custody of Minneapolis police.

"What happened to Konoa was a catastrophic failure of policing," the Wilson family's attorney, Nick Rowley, said in a statement reported by NBC 7. "A 16-year-old boy was running for his life. He was not a threat and not a suspect, yet he was shot in the back by a police officer who only saw him for one second before deciding to pull the trigger."