Family honors memory of Tyrell Wilson, other victims of police violence

On March 11, 2021, Danville police officers received complaints about someone throwing rocks from an overpass. Responding officers, who saw a 33-year-old Tyrell Wilson walking across an intersection in the area, tried to stop him and talk.

Footage from moments later shows Wilson walking backward with a knife in his hand and then Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Hall shooting him fatally.

On Friday, former Deputy Hall was sentenced to six years in prison for a different fatal shooting, of Laudemer Arboleda in November 2018 — a sentencing that gave hope to the families of Wilson, Miles Hall and Angelo Quinto, each of whom were suffering from a mental health crisis at the time of death.

Local organizers and family members of those who have lost their loved ones to police violence gathered outside the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office in Martinez on Tuesday for what would have been Wilson’s 34th birthday.

Wilson’s father, Marvin Wilson, had worked for 31 years with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, tearfully shared:

I felt like one of my own brothers killed my son. … And it was my only son.”

The mothers of Arboleda, Hall and Quinto joined Marvin Wilson outside the DA’s office to celebrate Tyrell Wilson’s life and demand that District Attorney Diana Becton bring additional charges against former Deputy Hall for fatally shooting Wilson.

Wilson and Hall were shot to death by police officers. Quinto died from complications after a police officer knelt down on his neck.

Eddie Edwards, an uncle of Tyrell Wilson, said:

Mental health is something that needs to be addressed more in this country, and it’s not addressed enough. … The cops need more training on how to handle the people that have mental illness.”

Wilson had signed up to donate his organs, and Edwards was a recipient of his kidney.

Wilson’s family, who currently live in Texas, will be in Danville on March 11, to commemorate his death anniversary and continue to demand justice. Marvin Wilson said:

Every time on this day, every year, I’m probably going to be here no matter what. I will be in Martinez and in Danville; I will be here. … Change needs to happen. Justice moves slowly, but I’m going to give it all I got until my last breath.”