Sahleem Tindle

Sahleem Tindle, 28, a father of two, was shot three times in the back and killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Officer Joseph Mateu on January 3, 2018, on a sidewalk across from the West Oakland BART station. Tindle had been walking to the station with his fiancee and children when he got into an altercation with another man, and the two ended up wrestling over a handgun after shots were fired. Mateu, responding on foot to the sound of gunfire, found the two men grappling and shot Tindle three times without having established who fired the earlier shots or possessed the gun. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley cleared Mateu of criminal wrongdoing in October 2018, concluding he reasonably believed he was acting in self-defense and defense of others. In March 2020, a federal jury found Mateu used excessive force and was negligent, awarding Tindle's family $6.3 million. No one has ever been criminally charged in Tindle's death.

Oakland, CA · Alameda County

• 2018: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The altercation, the struggle over the handgun, and the shooting, per Officer Mateu's body-worn camera footage and the Alameda County District Attorney's 48-page investigative report.
• Mateu ran toward the sound of gunfire from inside the BART station and, upon arriving, found Tindle and another, unidentified man grappling over a handgun; he fired three shots at Tindle without first determining who had fired the earlier shots or who owned the weapon.
• The DA's October 2018 report concluded Mateu “actually and reasonably believed” he was acting in self-defense and defense of others, and declined to bring criminal charges.
• Body camera video released to Tindle's family and later to the public showed conflicting interpretations: BART's police chief said it showed Tindle had not raised his hands until after being shot, while Tindle's mother said it showed his back was turned toward the other man and away from any threat when Mateu fired.
• Mateu was placed on paid administrative leave for approximately two weeks before returning to duty.
• A federal jury in March 2020, after a two-week trial, found Mateu had used excessive force in violation of Tindle's constitutional rights and had acted negligently, awarding $5.7 million to Tindle's estate for the constitutional violation and $608,000 to his two children for Mateu's negligence, a combined $6.3 million against BART.

• Whether Tindle himself had fired a weapon or was simply defending himself when Mateu shot him, given the officer acknowledged not knowing who fired the initial shots or possessed the gun before opening fire, was disputed throughout both the criminal review and the civil trial and was never resolved by any criminal proceeding since none was brought.
• The identity of the other man Tindle was grappling with, described in the DA's report only as an unnamed witness whom most other witnesses believed was not the aggressor, has not been made public.
• Why the district attorney's conclusion that the shooting was justified diverged so sharply from the federal civil jury's finding of excessive force and negligence, examining substantially the same body camera footage, has not been reconciled in any single public record.

• San Francisco Chronicle — “BART officer cleared in West Oakland shooting of Sahleem Tindle”
• East Bay Express — “District Attorney Clears BART Police Officer in Fatal West Oakland Shooting of Sahleem Tindle”
• NBC Bay Area — “Jury Awards $6.3M to Family of Man Fatally Shot by BART Officer”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs