DANVILLE, Calif. — Newly released details shed light on a deadly 2021 police shooting in Danville that left 33-year-old Tyrell Wilson dead and reignited scrutiny of Officer Andrew Hall, who was already under investigation for a prior fatal shooting.
On March 11, 2021, a 911 call reported a man throwing rocks onto Interstate 680, endangering drivers. Officer Hall responded to an intersection near the freeway, where he confronted Wilson, who fit the caller’s description.
Body-camera footage shows Wilson walking through traffic as Hall repeatedly orders him to stop. The situation escalates when Wilson raises a knife and shouts, “Touch me, see what’s up.” Hall draws his firearm, instructing Wilson multiple times to drop the weapon. Within seconds, a single shot rings out.
Bystanders scream as Wilson collapses. Hall and other officers rendered aid, urging him to “stay with us,” but Wilson later died at a hospital.
Wilson, once a standout high-school athlete, had struggled with mental health after the death of his girlfriend, according to his family. In March 2022, Contra Costa County agreed to a $4.5 million civil settlement with Wilson’s family.
A month later, a county jury ruled Wilson’s death a homicide, though it did not determine whether the shooting was criminal. Outside the courthouse, Wilson’s father argued that his son did not realize Hall was a police officer, despite Hall arriving in a marked patrol vehicle and wearing a full uniform.
The case took on renewed intensity because Hall was already under scrutiny for fatally shooting another man in 2018. In March 2022, he was convicted of assault with a firearm for that earlier incident and sentenced to six years in prison.
Prosecutors have said the 2021 shooting of Wilson remains under review and could lead to additional charges.
Two lives — a young man whose promising future was derailed by grief and mental illness, and a police officer already facing criminal charges — intersected in a moment that turned deadly. For both families, there is no undoing the split-second decision that ended Wilson’s life.
