K’aun Green walked into a San Jose taqueria for a late-night meal and nearly didn’t make it out alive. The then–San José State defensive end is now set to receive an $8 million settlement after police shot him four times seconds after he disarmed a gunman — and after racist texts from the officer involved came to light.

In March 2022, Green was eating at La Victoria Taqueria in downtown San Jose when a drunk man punched him, sparking a fight that moved across the restaurant floor. A friend of the aggressor pulled a gun, pointed it at Green’s head and toward other customers, turning a brawl into a potential mass shooting. Green managed to wrestle the gun away and, according to video and court records, lifted it over his head and backed toward the exit to show he wasn’t trying to shoot anyone.

Multiple officers rushed in with guns drawn. While some held their fire, Officer Mark McNamara hastily fired five rounds, hitting Green four times as he tried to comply, leaving the 20-year-old seriously wounded on the floor.

Green was then handcuffed to a hospital bed, underwent surgery, and was kept from his mother, who only found out what happened from a friend.

“Only after reports from various media outlets that the officers shot the wrong person did the San Jose Police Department feel compelled to explain why they shot the hero, not the gunman,” the claim states, according to Atlanta Black Star.

Later, McNamara’s text messages surfaced in court: he used racist slurs, said he “hate[d] Black people,” and joked about the shooting while downplaying any chance of accountability. In one (of many) disturbing text threads, the officer claims to have done the Green a favor, saying:

“There was like 65 African lookin mother f*****s there too. All just mean mugging me and taking notes. They should all be bowing to me and brining me gifts since I saved a fellow n***a by making him rich as f-ck Otherwise he woulda lived a life of poverty and crime

A federal appeals court ruled that a jury could see his actions as excessive force and rejected his push for qualified immunity, helping pave the way for the settlement.

Now 24, Green has rebuilt his life and his body, earning a scholarship to play at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, an HBCU. 

"The [settlement] number is reflective of the harm K'aun suffered, but also the egregiousness of this particular police officer," Green's civil rights attorney, Adante Pointer, said, according to KTVU. "This is a young man that deserves every penny that San Jose is finally coughing up."