The 25-year-old man, Nation Alexanders Wood, who allegedly shot and killed 22-year-old Samantha Emge in the Sunset on Tuesday, pleaded not guilty to the charge of involuntary manslaughter and denied all allegations, said his attorney public defender Doug Welch.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Christopher Hu set bail for Wood’s release at $300,000 on Friday afternoon. Should the defendant post bail, the judge decided, he will be released on condition that he appears in court on future dates, and agrees to warrantless searches, no weapons, electronic monitoring and possibly forfeiting his passport.
Wood is willing to abide by any conditions from the court, Welch said.
“It does seem like a horrific accident,” Welch said. “Mr. Wood will do everything he can do to do right.”
The shooting happened on March 24, when officers responded to a residence on the 2200 block of 22nd Avenue. They found Emge, suffering from a gunshot wound and rendered aid. She died at the hospital.
Emge’s family — her parents, siblings, aunt and uncle — appeared in court on Friday afternoon, sitting in the first and second row, their eyes red. They were accompanied by a homicide victim advocate.
During the court proceedings, Welch argued to lower the amount of bail, saying that Wood can’t afford the bail and is not a flight risk.
“From the moment this happened, Mr. Wood never moved anywhere away from doing anything, other than trying to get Emge help,” Welch argued. “When the police arrived, from the beginning until the end, he was 100 percent cooperative and open with them. Not an iota of movement or word to indicate anything else.”
Alice Wong, the assistant district attorney, argued that she is concerned about Wood being a flight risk, given that Wood was planning to leave in the coming weeks to serve in the National Guard.
Welch disagreed. “The fact that he was going to be in the National Guard, is hardly evidence of fleeing. If anything, it is evidence of commitment, dedication and responsibility,” he said. After the incident, Welch added, Wood’s National Guard duty is “not happening.”
Wood, in an orange suit, kept his head low in court on Friday afternoon. His family, including his father and uncles, sat in the first row. When stating his name and responding to the judge, his voice was hoarse. During the court proceedings, he looked at his feet and at times buried his face in his hands.
Wood, from Kirkland, Washington, studied at San Francisco State University for two years. Wood and Emge both graduated in the summer of 2025. Before that, he was a student at Saddleback College, south of Los Angeles, and was on the baseball team.
Wood is an independent pre-event site security advisor, according to his LinkedIn, and worked for the White House from 2023 to 2025. He was on the security team when then-Vice President Kamala Harris visited San Francisco during APEC in 2023.
Wood’s preliminary hearing is on April 9.
This is such a weird situation. I hope the preliminary hearing sheds some light on what happened. If the charge is involuntary manslaughter. then apparently there is nothing to indicate any intent. We don’t know what happened, but if this was just an accident, it is a good illustration of why it is just not a good idea to keep a gun in one’s home (I’m not anti-gun and grew up hunting, but I have never owned one and would not).
By the way, the headline should read “pleads not guilty” rather than “pleas not guilty” (in criminal court, “plead” is the verb form; “plea” is the noun).