San Diego to pay $30 million settlement to family of teen fatally shot by police

Teri Figueroa, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Dec 6, 2025

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SAN DIEGO — San Diego is poised to pay $30 million to the family of a teenager who was fatally shot by a San Diego police officer in a split-second encounter outside Santa Fe Depot earlier this year.

Konoa Wilson, 16, was running away from someone shooting at him on the train platform when he emerged from a corridor onto Kettner Boulevard and into the path of Officer Dan Gold II, who was running toward the gunfire.

Konoa was shot within seconds of their encounter the night of Jan. 28, according to footage from the officer’s body-worn camera.

The teen’s parents alleged in the lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, that Gold opened fire “instantly, without any warning,” in violation of Konoa’s civil rights, as well as state law and San Diego police use-of-force standards.

The lawsuit moved very quickly. The teen’s parents sued the city and Gold in June. The City Council voted to approve a tentative $30 million settlement in closed session in late September.

Attorney Nicholas Rowley, who is part of the team that represented Konoa’s parents, said the $30 million amount was the only offer made. “That is the number we gave them,” he said.

“I’ve never seen a city take responsibility so quickly,” Rowley said. “It’s really noble. It really is. It was an officer out there trying to keep people safe. It was a mistake.”

Rowley, who said he does trial work across the country, said he believes the amount represents the largest-ever settlement in a police shooting case. It tops the $27 million settlement the city of Minneapolis reached in the death of George Floyd, although that case did not involve a shooting.

The San Diego City Council is slated to vote Tuesday on whether to authorize the payment, and the expected settlement also covers the officer, whom the teen’s family also sued.

“The settlement is a business decision and the result of a compromise and dismissal of the litigation proceedings and is not an admission of liability by any party,” the memo reads. “City and its representatives specifically disclaim any liability or responsibility to Plaintiff.”

San Diego must pay $5 million of the sum, according to the City Attorney’s Office. The remaining $25 million will come from a public liability fund in which several municipalities pool money to help cover liabilities.

Gold had been a San Diego police officer for two years at the time of the shooting. A police spokesperson confirmed Friday that Gold is working for the department in an administrative capacity. The spokesperson declined further comment on the expected settlement because the matter is still pending.

The District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case for criminal liability, as is protocol when a local law enforcement officer opens fire. That review remains underway.

Attorney Rowley said Konoa’s parents “miss their son so much. There is no dollar amount that will replace him and make what happened OK. They are grateful that the city of San Diego looked at this and did the right thing.”

Konoa hailed from a tight-knit family, Rowley said. “This boy loved the ocean,” the attorney said. “He didn’t like wearing shoes. He’d be at the beach every day with his dad if he could.”

Video released by police in February included security camera footage of the initial shooting on the trolley platform and Gold’s body-worn camera footage.

Surveillance video shows Konoa on the train platform when someone nearby pulls out a gun and opens fire on Konoa. The teen turns and runs.

San Diego police said Gold was on Kettner, responding to an unrelated report of an assault on a trolley at nearby America Plaza Station, when he heard gunshots. According to Gold’s video, Gold was running toward a corridor to the Santa Fe Depot train platform when Konoa suddenly emerged, running out of the corridor feet in front of him.

As the teen ran past, he was shot. He died at a hospital, little more than a half-hour later, according to the lawsuit.

When San Diego police released video of the incident, the department noted that Konoa had a gun under his clothing, in the area of his right thigh. Rowley said Friday the gun was irrelevant because he was not brandishing it when he was shot. The attorney said the teen had the gun because he was half-Black and being targeted by local gangs.

“He had been beat to a pulp and put in the hospital more than once, and so somehow he got a gun to try to protect himself,” Rowley said. “But it’s a gun he never shot. I don’t believe the gun had any bullets.”

San Diego police said in February that a 16-year-old boy was later arrested as the suspected gunman who shot at Konoa on the train platform.

Rowley said his firm teamed with San Diego attorneys King Aminpour and Michael VanGalio, and credited their work on the case as well.