Samantha Katherine Emge, 22, was shot and killed inside a Sunset District home near 22nd Avenue and Santiago Street on the night of March 24, 2026. Police were called at about 10:43 p.m.; first responders took her to a hospital but she died of her injuries. She was a recent San Francisco State University graduate, class of 2025, and had been working as a design assistant while beginning a career in interior design.

Authorities identified 25-year-old Nation Wood as a person at the residence; he was detained at the scene and later arrested. Prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter rather than an intentional killing, and early law enforcement accounts said Wood told police he had been dry-firing a gun and did not realize a live round remained, with the gun allegedly discharging and striking Emge while she was in the shower. Wood pleaded not guilty, a judge set bail at $300,000 with electronic monitoring and weapons-related restrictions, and he was released on those terms by early April 2026.

Emge’s family has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the notion that her death was simply accidental, leaving questions about the circumstances in the home and the sequence of events that led to the shooting. Did anyone have contact with Samantha in the hours before 10:43 p.m., or other information about what happened inside the residence that night?