Man shot by Danville officer dies, civil rights attorney questions 'truthfulness' of police account

DANVILLE, Calif. - Tyrell Wilson died in a hospital Wednesday after being struck by gunfire in an officer-involved shooting in Danville last week and his family's civil rights attorney is now questioning the "truthfulness" of the police officer's version events based on an unnamed witness accounty. 

The Contra Costa Office of the Sheriff announced the death Wednesday afternoon and said it "is committed to full transparency of all the facts."

Sheriff's investigators are working with the District Attorney's Office as per protocol. 

On March 11, police dispatch received several calls from motorists regarding a man throwing rocks onto oncoming Interstate 680 traffic while standing atop the Sycamore Valley Road overpass just before noon.

The account provided by the sheriff is that Deputy Andrew Hall arrived at the scene and contacted Wilson, who was in the area of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon, just east of the freeway.

Hall approached Wilson and attempted to speak with him.

Wilson then pulled out a folding knife and opened it, the sheriff's office said. Hall ordered him to drop the knife several times, the sheriff's office said.

That is when Wilson approached Hall, who then discharged his weapon, striking Wilson once.

Hall is the same officer who shot and killed a man in 2018. In that Danville shooting, Hall fired more than one shot and killed 33-year-old Laudemer Arboleda, of Newark.

"Tyrell's parents are concerned that the officer's statements are not totally truthful," the office of civil rights attorney John Burris of Oakland said in a statement. "Especially since an independent witness disputes the officer's account. The witness described a different account of how the incident occurred between Officer Hall and Mr. Wilson."

Burris did not elaborate on the witness statements. 

Burris said the shooting "is the second use of deadly force by Officer Hall" and announced he will be "suing the officer and the department for civil rights violations for the prior use of deadly force."

Hall, who is assigned to Danville under a contract with the county, has been a peace officer for seven and a half years and is on paid administrative leave per department policy, sheriff's officials said.