Former San Diego Deputy Sentenced to 12 Years for Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Fleeing Man

SAN DIEGO, CA – May 30, 2026 – Former San Diego County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Richard Russell, 29, was sentenced in federal court on Friday to 12 years in prison for the fatal shooting of 36-year-old Nicholas Bils, an unarmed man who was shot four times in the back as he attempted to flee from custody. The sentencing follows a federal jury conviction in March after a two-week trial and less than seven hours of deliberation.

The jury found Russell guilty of two counts: deprivation of rights under color of law resulting in death, for which he received 24 months, and use and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, which carried a mandatory minimum of 120 months. The sentences will run consecutively, totaling 12 years.

According to evidence presented at trial, on May 1, 2020, Russell, then a deputy with the San Diego Sheriff's Department, fired five shots at Bils as he ran away from California State Parks Police officers who were transporting him to the San Diego Central Jail. Four rounds struck Bils, including one that hit him squarely in the back and pierced his heart and lung.

Bils staggered to the corner of Front and B Streets, where he collapsed and later died at a hospital. The shooting was captured on multiple surveillance cameras and body-worn camera footage.

No other officer at the scene drew their weapon, and multiple officers testified that Bils posed no threat. A fifth round struck a civilian vehicle traveling southbound on Front Street.

U.S. District Judge Todd Robinson stated before sentencing, "Law enforcement is rightfully held to a higher standard because of the power they’re imbued with to protect the community.

It is difficult to imagine offense conduct more aggravated than intentionally taking the life of another person." The victim's mother, Kathleen Bils, described her son as kind and gentle, saying in a statement read by prosecutors, "No mother should ever be awakened in the middle of the night to hear her child has been killed by law enforcement for running away." Russell, who has been free on bond, must report to prison by July 13 at noon.