Agustin "Augie" Gonsalez

Agustin “Augie” Gonsalez, age 29, was shot dead on 15 November 2018 by two Hayward cops—Phillip Wooley and Michael Clark. They fired 13 rounds into him just seven seconds after arriving at his location. Their pretext? They claimed they saw a “glint of something metallic” in Gonsalez’s hands which they took to be a knife posing “an immediate threat.” Far from being a threat, Gonsalez, 15 feet away, had a small safety razor blade that he carried for work, scheduled for that night. Gonsalez was in the middle of a mental health crisis and was met with violence instead of de-escalation and compassion.

Gonsalez, father of two children, worked full time at the Tesla factory in Fremont. He was visiting an ex-girlfriend in Hayward. A neighbor called 911 claiming that a man was acting strangely and had a knife. When the police arrived, the neighbor, the ex-girlfriend and Gonsalez were outside on the street.

After Gonsalez’s death, the police and city stonewalled the family for days before giving them any information about his whereabouts. The city even told the family the incorrect date of his killing, which the family found out only after the funeral home shared the proper date. An Alameda County DA report issued six months later concluded that Gonsalez was suicidal and thereby outrageously implied that he engineered his own death. A wrongful death lawsuit by the family resulted in a monetary settlement of $3.3 million by the city of Hayward in 2021.

A second DA, Pamela Price, put the case up for review but announced in late 2024 that once again no charges would be filed against Wooley and Clark. In response, Augie’s family issued a statement on Instagram: “The DA’s decision not to press charges against the officers who took his life only deepens our grief and reopens the wounds from that tragic night in 2018. They admit mistakes, yet refuse accountability—a brutal reminder that this system protects its own, not the lives it should serve.” Gonsalez’ cousin Cynthia Nunes has endorsed OPA.

Open all police archives! We call for the release of all statements, including texts and emails, made by officers Wooley and Clark, along with the 911 calls and all recordings (audio and video) about the incident. Along with all incident reports and any witness statements, Gonsalez’s family and the public need to see the two cops’ personnel records, including from any prior police agencies the cops worked.