California officer fatally shoots 22-year-old after mistaking hammer for gun, chief says

[Judi Lynn]

Source: kron4/Associated Press

by: The Associated Press and Nexstar Media Wire

Posted: Jun 4, 2020 / 06:38 PM CDT / Updated: Jun 4, 2020 / 06:38 PM CDT

VALLEJO, Calif. (KRON/AP) — A California police chief said an officer shot and killed a 22-year-old man during a night of violence because he thought the man had a gun in his waistband.

Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams said Sean Monterrosa, of San Francisco, was killed outside a Walgreens store shortly after 12:30 a.m. Tuesday as several people suspected of looting tried to flee police.

“I would say that it’s always a tragedy any time an officer has to use force,” Williams said. “My condolences to his family. It is a difficult thing that happened.”



Sean Monterossa (via GoFundMe)

Two cars fled the scene when officers arrived, but Monterrosa was not in them. He turned toward officers kneeling on the pavement as if he was preparing to shoot, Williams said.

Read more: https://www.dothanfirst.com/news/top-stories/california-officer-fatally-shoots-22-year-old-after-mistaking-hammer-for-gun-chief-says/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Oh God, not another senseless death of a young minority youth.

[Judi Lynn]

2. California: Vallejo police kill unarmed 22-year-old, who was on his knees with his hands up

An officer mistakenly believed Sean Monterrosa had a gun, but it was a hammer in his pocket

Sam Levin in Los Angeles

@SamTLevin Email
Fri 5 Jun 2020 00.48 EDT

Police in northern California fatally shot an unarmed 22-year-old who was on his knees with his hands up outside a Walgreens store while responding to a call of alleged looting, officials said.

An officer in the city of Vallejo was inside his car when he shot Sean Monterrosa on Monday night amid local and national protests against police brutality. Police said an officer mistakenly believed Monterrosa had a gun, but later determined he had a hammer in his pocket.

The killing of Monterrosa, who was a San Francisco resident, has sparked intense outrage in the Bay Area, particularly in the city of Vallejo, a city with a long history of police violence and high-profile killings and excessive force complaints.

“When confronted by the police, he dropped to his knees and surrendered, and they fired at him,” said Melissa Nold, a Vallejo civil rights attorney representing Monterrosa’s family. “He wasn’t doing anything to warrant it. They shot him from inside their car. What opportunity did they give him to survive that situation? … It’s egregiously bad.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/04/vallejo-police-kill-unarmed-man-california

[diane in sf]

3. I live in Vallejo and I posted this on another thread. I want to give people some background.

Sean Monterrosa was part of a gang of looters converging on Walgreens for the 2nd or 3rd time that night.

The level of looting here Monday night in Vallejo was unbelievable. The sirens and choppers never stopped from sunset until around 4am. Many groups of up to twenty cars at a time were running everywhere around town. They hit almost every commercial area of the town, many places several times. They were concentrating on drug stores, pot shops, electronics, but almost no major store was left untouched. Many small businesses were also trashed and looted.

I feel sorry for this young man and his family. But the Vallejo PD has a terrible and well-known record for killing people. It’s also well-known that there are not enough police to cover the town effectively—the local crime rate is quite high—which may have made attacking this place under the guise of protest an attractive proposition to regional criminals. Burglary here is practically the town sport.

Sean Monterrosa was doing very illegal stuff and put himself in a position where he got shot by a frightened, or murderous, or maybe nearsighted policeman. It’s almost a choice of suicide by cop.

A lot of this looting of various towns in this area at this time seems highly organized. These are career criminals doing this stuff. The protestors have been law abiding. This organized looting is not spontaneous rage or a protest of George Floyd’s murder, it’s criminal opportunism.

All the above being said, I don’t believe that looting should get a person the death penalty. And every one of these officer caused deaths needs to be thoroughly investigated and officers charged and prosecuted when the shooting is not justified. Because this hasn’t happened here, the murderous cowboy culture has continued unabated in Vallejo for decades.

[diane in sf]

4. Below is a rough transcript of the information from the police scanners that night.

“This is a crude summation of the scanner last night (I'm sure I missed some):
9:00PM- Seafood City -Three suspects with gloves & tools for looting. 2 detained.
9:05PM-CVS on Sonoma- 459 in progress. 6-10 ppl looting store. Vehicle stopped after high speed chase and two detained.
9:17PM- Best Buy and Verizon in Gateway Plaza- 20 ppl trying to break in, officers in route. Looters are moving fast. 40-50 cars now fleeing area. Mercedes and Jeep suspected vehicles.
9:22PM- Bank of America at Plaza Dr- 215 responsible is black corvette. 4 bma armed with handguns,large crowd leaving the area.
9:24PM- Redwood & Tuolumne- 1075 reported in area
9:27PM- Columbus parkway- gunshots heard
9:31PM- Target at Plaza- 40-50 cars now leaving the parking lot Heading East on Turner
9:35PM- Dispensary across from the courthouse - 4-5 car loads of subjects attempting to make entry. Appears VPD got there before entry.
9:46PM- Benicia Rd & Lemon- Rapid gun fire reported
9:48PM- Walgreens on Springs road- Looting
9:54PM- Mach 1 sports on Couch St- Took cars from lot. 594 at front. Cars stolen and seen leaving
9:57PM- Tennessee & Sutter- 10-75 shoots reported
10:00PM- Stephen & Burgess- 10-75 reported (possible fireworks?)
10:01PM- 3200 Sonoma ( Hemp Hop dispensary) -5 armed men trying to take over property. Armed security held their ground-no entry made. Martial Law enacted.
10:06PM- Big Five on Sonoma- 459 in progress. Blue dodger suspected vehicle
10:07PM- Marshall’s at the Plaza- 459 reported. Officers on scene.
10:16PM- Rite Aid- Solano Ave- 459 looting in progress
10:18PM- CVS Redwood- 459 looting in progress
10:19PM- CVS Sonoma- 459 looting in progress
10:25PM- Walgreens at Redwood- 459 looting in progress
10;25PM- Taco Bell Sonoma- arrested 1 wm (?)
10;29PM- Mercury Pharmacy on Redwood- 459 looting in progress
10:30PM- Pharmacy on Sac & Sonoma- 459 looting in progress
10:31PM- CVS Admiral Callaghan- 459 looting in progress
10:33PM- SB pursuit for black mercedes connected to 459
10;40PM- Sonoma Blvd- 104 mpr pursuit of black honda
10:51PM- Walgreens (again) on redwood- 459 looting… for third time tonight
10:52PM- Redwood- gun found
10:52PM- AAA gun shop on Springs road- cars gathering and attempted 459- unsuccessful -owner had martial law on his side!
10:53PM- Walgreens pharmacy getting hit- black charger, felony stop
10:57PM- Pharmacy on Georgia st- 459 active looting in progress
10:59PM- Dispensary on Lewis Brown dr- 459- illegal entry made- looting
11:10PM- EB Redwood- pursuit of 30 cars. Air is following
11:11PM- Broadway 1900 block- 459 in progress. Suspect has gun. Owner has gun and is protecting his business. Martial law.
11:18PM- Alameda and Tennessee- high risk stop- mult guns
11:20pm- AAA guns- again- police in route, but owner is inside and will protect business. 459 attempted again.
11:23PM- Jack in the Box at Broadway and Tennessee- 3 detained
11:28PM- Hemp Hop- shots exchanged between looters and owner.
11:30PM- Chick-fil-a- hold up alarm triggered to help CVS across the street which is being looted again.
11:31PM- Chick-fil-a- Shots fired t owner trying to board up business.
11:32PM- CVS on Admiral Callaghan- 459… again
11:37PM- EB Florida and Tulumne- tracking 30 cars.
11:51PM- CVS- high speed pursuit Fairgrounds and 37 - 5ppl
12:00AM- Atlas Packing-3600 Sonoma- 459 looting attempt
12:00AM- 3495 Sonoma - 211 silent alarm
1:00AM- Walgreens on Redwood- 459 looting again- shooting and police chase. 1 suspect down. Tan Nissan in pursuit. Drove across bridge and CHP was unable to help.
1:00AM- Laurel- a home was being broken into by 3 BFA’s - 459/594 in progress
1:00AM- Mississippi and Sac- shots heard
2:00AM- Seafood City 3000 Sonoma- VFDin route. Someone poured gas on a bush outside of business.
2:00AM- Safeway Admiral Callaghan- 459 looting at pharmacy
2:00AM- CVS again on Sonoma- 459 in progress
3:00AM- Jewelry store- 459 silver BMW VPD in pursuit
3:00AM- Toll Booth- active fire VFD in route
3:00AM- Magazine and Lincoln Road west- officer reported mult shots fired.
4:00AM- Alabama- commercial building fire alarm”

[Igel]

10. Lots of pharmacies.

Probably after nothing more than povidone and some bandages for skinned knees.

Of course, the next day people with prescriptions for antibiotics or insulin might find it harder to get them filled.

[OneBro]

6. Are you sure?

After detailing his “very illegal” looting, you wrote “I don’t believe that looting should get a person the death penalty.” But are you sure about that? Your response to your post then lists all of the horrible, horrible, very bad, illegal stuff police are having to deal with there. You don’t mention that he was reportedly on his knees with his hands up when he was shot, and you don’t mention that police are somehow able to apprehend and arrest white people WITH ACTUAL GUNS committing crimes even when they are not in their knees with their hands up.
So I ask again. Are you sure? ‘Cause it sure sounds like there’s a LOT of looting happening where you are and, well, he was obviously looting, so . . .

[olegramps]

8. Unfortunately, the looting is used to condemn the rightful and legal protests by Republican racists.

[AllyCat]

11. Sounds like the arrest was likely justified and underway in an appropriate manner...

...until the execution by cop. For looting.

[OneBro]

12. Yup. That was my take.

[The Wizard]

7. Another Trump approved murder.

[Swede]

9. Well he was brown.

Nothing to see here.

[olddad65]

13. Ah the old 'I thought he had a gun' excuse.

[deurbano]

14. My son went to middle school with Sean. Although they were in the same grade, my son didn't know him

well, but says he seemed like a nice guy. Some of my son's good friends did know Sean well, and they are all stunned and heartbroken.

No matter what the circumstances, Sean seemed to be surrendering, on his knees with his hands up, and even if the hammer was mistaken for a gun, he wasn't touching it, yet the cop, still in the police car, fired at him through the windshield, anyway?! Meanwhile, all those assholes at the state capitols paraded around with their giant guns in plain sight, getting right in the faces of cops... with no consequences whatsoever.

The police are giving one version of Sean's life, while the family has another:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/My-brother-was-kneeling-and-surrendering-15318383.php