The city of Virginia Beach will pay a $3 million settlement to the family of Donovon Lynch, a Black man who was shot and killed by police last year. Lynch was the cousin of Pharrell Williams, a Virginia Beach native.

The settlement between Virginia Beach and Lynch’s family, announced yesterday, comes after a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Wayne Lynch, Donovon’s father. Wayne filed the lawsuit in June 2021 against the city and police officer Solomon D. Simmons, several months after Lynch was fatally shot during a chaotic outbreak of gunfire on the city’s boardwalk.

Lynch, a 25-year-old former college football player, was at a nightclub with a friend when a shooting occurred outside, according to Billboard. After the pair left the nightclub, they encountered Simmons. According to the lawsuit, “Immediately, unlawfully and without warning, officer Simmons fired his police-issued firearm at Mr. Lynch, shooting him twice and killing him.”

SEE THE REST AT ROLLINGSTONE