Community reacts to no charges for San Diego officer in fatal shooting of teen

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Welcome in, San Diego. It's Jade Hindman. On this episode of KPBS Midday Edition, San Diego agreed to pay $30 million to the family of 16-year-old Canoa Wilson after he was fatally shot by a police officer, but the officer won't face criminal charges. The details of that decision. KPBS Midday Edition is connecting our communities through conversation. When 16-year-old Canoa Wilson heard gunshots ring out in Santa Fe Depot, he started running for his life. That's when he nearly collided with San Diego police officer Daniel Gould, who was responding to an unrelated report of assault in the area. Officer Gould says he believed Canoa was the shooter. Body camera footage shows Gould immediately firing at Canoa at close range, killing him. Canoa's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit that resulted in the city settling for $30 million in December of last year, the highest public amount paid to a family after a police killing. The District Attorney's office has since weighed whether to charge Officer Gould in this case, and earlier this month they announced that no criminal charges will be filed. But some s- community members are really questioning that decision. I'm joined now by Tasha Williamson. She is a community advocate who fought for police reform and accountability. Tasha, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thanks for being here. Um, so listen, in a 14-page letter, the District Attorney's office said there is not a criminal charge provable beyond a reasonable doubt. Uh, what's your initial reaction to this decision not to charge Officer Gould in this case?

Um, first and foremost, I believe that the DA is biased. Um, she pulls, uh, law enforcement, retired and officers who leave the force. Um, her pool of investigators come from law enforcement. So I just wanna say, one, sh- the, the biases that stand there, and her DAs work very closely with law enforcement, um, in criminal cases. And so that bias stands. When you look at the totality, which is what they're supposed to look at, the totality of the circumstances, um, it is clear that she could have gone to the grand jury and asked the grand, given the grand jury the evidence to make, let them decide if there was enough evidence to charge or not charge. She could have gone to trial like she did, um, in the Beals case, uh, where Officer Aaron, a Sheriff Deputy Aaron Russell shot, um, Mr. Beals in the back running away, and he was subsequently tried. Um, he got a 12-month sentence. Uh, she did not do that here. And for me, I feel that, um, at the time of the shooting, the officer did not know whether Canoa had a gun. Canoa was not aggressively attacking the officer or anyone else. He was running away, and he was shot in his back. For her to say that there's not enough evidence in using the, um, standard of beyond a reasonable doubt, um, is a farce. Uh-

And you bring up that Beals case because you feel like the evidence in both of