The California Department of Justice will review the shooting death of 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa at the hands of officers at the Vallejo Police Department, the state’s attorney general said.
“We will not be bringing him back, but the action today is critical,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Thursday. “We must have complete, thorough, impartial, fair reviews of officer involved shootings.”
Monterrosa was killed on June 2, 2020 outside a Walgreens store in Vallejo, California. An officer, who was investigating reports of looting on a night of civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s death, fired his weapon through a police vehicle’s windshield, striking Monterrosa, police said.
The officer mistook a hammer in Monterrosa’s pocket for a gun, police said.
Thursday’s announcement comes months after family members and activists called for the state to conduct an independent investigation into the shooting.
In recent weeks, there have been increasing calls for police accountability among the Hispanic community after the police killing of Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old Latino boy in Chicago, and the death of Mario Gonzalez Arenales, a 26-year-old Latino man who died in police custody in Alameda, California.
