OAKLAND, CA – The California Department of Justice (DOJ) last Friday finally released a report on the shooting deaths of Anthony and Savannah Graziano by law enforcement on Sept. 27, 2022, in Hesperia, CA, clearing the San Bernardino Sheriff Dept. deputies in the killing of a 15-year-old reported to be a victim.
DOJ found Anthony killed his wife and took his daughter Savannah hostage, but after a 41-mile chase, deputies shot and killed the teen as she ran from the vehicle her father was driving, according to a Los Angeles Times story.
The Times reported, “Savannah had run toward deputies before she was shot, implying that she may have posed a threat. But Savannah’s last steps were cautious, according to helicopter footage in a 15-minute incident video narrated by the Sheriff’s Department.
“Savannah seemed to crouch near the ground after getting out of her father’s white truck. The nameless deputy heard in the audio shouts to her amid the sound of gunshots just before she is shot by another deputy.”
The Times story added sheriff dept. “investigators determined Savannah was a participant in shooting at our deputies during the high-speed pursuit that preceded her death. In the video, however, the department walked back that claim, saying the question of whether Savannah fired at deputies was still being investigated.”
The report from the DOJ last week, according to Attorney General Rob Bonta, “provides a detailed analysis of the incident and outlines the DOJ’s findings that, after investigating, the DOJ found that criminal charges were not warranted in the case.
“This was a tragic situation with a tragic outcome that grieved the local community and California as a whole,” said Bonta.
Bonta added, “This report was quite difficult to publish, and I sincerely hope it provides the community with the answers they’ve been waiting for. The California Department of Justice aims to partner with law enforcement to build a just and equitable legal environment, ensuring that the rule of law is upheld, and justice is accessible to everyone.”
One day before the officer-involved shooting, said the DOJ, Anthony Graciano fatally shot his wife, Tracy Martinez.
The DOJ report added the shooting was near a public road in Fontana, and “Ms. Martinez attempted to flee from Mr. Graziano’s white Nissan Frontier pickup truck,” and their 15-year old daughter, Savannah Graziano, was in the truck “when her mother was shot. After the shooting, Mr. Graziano drove away with his daughter, and an amber alert was issued for her kidnapping,” said the DOJ
The next day, on Sept. 27, DOJ said eyewitnesses called the police after seeing Savannah in a Nissan Frontier in San Bernardino County. SBSD deputies identified the car, and began a “41-mile pursuit…on southbound interstate 15.”
DOJ’s report stated bullets were fired at officers “from the rear and passenger-side windows of the Nissan Frontier.”
DOJ reported “21 deputies returned fire,” and when Savannah Graziano exited the passenger seat and…ran towards a single officer, and “she was shot by other SBSD deputies.” Later, she died from her wounds.
The DOJ noted state policy warranted a case investigation, but it was concluded that there was “insufficient evidence to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt,” that the deputies were simply defending themselves in the face of believed risk of death or injury, and there was not enough evidence to “support a criminal prosecution of the deputies.”
DOJ suggested four specific policies, including SBSD holding a refresher training for their staff “on crossfire and field of fire to minimize risk to bystanders and deputies,” further training on “incident command and communications between ground units” when weapons are used, the installation of “an in-car video system in its patrol units” and a policy revision regarding body worn camera use.
There were, according to a story in the Guardian, other problems, including very tardy response to requested information from San Bernardino County under the California Public Records Act in October 2022.
For a year and a half, the LA Times noted, a Guardian writer “repeatedly received the same response from the department: The information was part of an ongoing investigation, and he would be provided an update at a later time.
The Times wrote the county belatedly “released several videos about the shooting — an edited video summarizing the events that led up to the shooting and unedited video footage from a helicopter and surveillance videos.
“(T)hose were accompanied by a statement saying the county hadn’t been able to provide all of the evidence sooner because of a ransomware attack in April 2023 that also hindered its ability to provide information to the California Department of Justice.”
The Times reported, “Police transparency laws such as 2018’s Senate Bill 1421 and Assembly Bill 748 require the disclosure of records related to police shootings, certain uses of force and any information regarding the injury or death of a person by an officer. But there is often resistance from law enforcement agencies to release the information.”
“The public has a right to the full story, not just the official story,” said David Loy, legal director with the nonprofit First Amendment Coalition, to the LA Times.
