Overview
- Police responding Tuesday night to a 22nd Avenue apartment found 22-year-old Samantha Emge with a gunshot wound, and she later died at a hospital.
- Homicide investigators developed probable cause to arrest 25-year-old Nation Wood, and the district attorney charged him with involuntary manslaughter.
- At a Friday arraignment, Wood pleaded not guilty as a judge set $300,000 bail with conditions that include electronic monitoring and no weapons if he is released.
- Wood told investigators he was dry-firing what he thought was an unloaded gun when a round went through a wall and struck Emge in the shower, and charging papers note the killing was alleged to be without malice.
- Wood previously worked on White House advance and security teams from November 2023 to July 2025, posted a photo with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Secret Service said he was not an agency member.
- The investigation remains active, with a court date set for April 1 and another hearing on April 9, and legal analysts note involuntary manslaughter can carry up to four years in prison plus added time if firearm enhancements are filed.