Shortly after midnight Tuesday, a Vallejo police officer shot and killed a 22-year-old man who was suspected of trying to break into a local Walgreens during a chaotic night of looting, police confirmed Wednesday.
The man, identified as Sean Monterrosa, 22, was killed by a Vallejo officer who mistook a hammer in Monterrosa’s sweatshirt pocket for a gun, Vallejo police Chief Shawny Williams said at a news conference Wednesday. The officer’s name has not yet been made public.
Monterrosa was on his knees when he was shot, Williams said. The officer fired five times at Monterrosa from a Vallejo police patrol car, shooting through the car’s windshield.
The shooting happened between 12:30-1 a.m. Tuesday, and Monterrosa was declared dead several hours later. It took more than 24 hours for Vallejo police to publicly confirm that an officer had killed a man.
The officer who killed Monterrosa has 18 years of experience, Williams said. Williams did not say if the officer had fired is duty weapon in the past.
Williams was asked several times — by reporters as well as onlookers who spoke out during the news conference — if he believed the officer’s actions constituted excessive force. He refused to answer the question, at one point standing in silence for several seconds as a woman condemned the officers’ actions.
“The Solano District Attorney will make the ultimate finding if the force was legal,” Williams said Wednesday when a reporter asked for his opinion. He also said an Internal Affairs investigation had been opened.
But the Solano DA might not be the only higher agency to review the shooting. Two hours after the news conference, Assemblyman Tim Grayson released a statement saying it was “absolutely unacceptable” Williams waited so long to announce that an officer killed a man, and called for an outside investigation, adding this was “especially important” in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.
“I believe an independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting that occurred Tuesday must be conducted by the California Attorney General’s office or a federal agency,” Grayson said in a news release. “The family of Sean Monterrosa and our community in Vallejo deserve to have clear information about the events that occurred and the response from the Vallejo Police Department. Our community is in pain and we must look for ways to both heal and move towards meaningful change.”
The news conference was held at City Hall, which was still being repaired after someone broke inside and set a fire Monday night. It ended prematurely after several people began to demand that the unnamed officer be fired or arrested.
A Vallejo resident who attended the news conference, Lisa Gutierrez-Wilson, said she had more questions than answers.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” she told this newspaper. “He had his hands raised. I’m just sick.”
Williams said Monterrosa had a hammer at his waistband, and that he moved his hands in such a way that the officer believed he was reaching for a gun. The officer “responded to a perceived threat,” Williams said.
Police announced midday Tuesday that there had been an “officer-involved shooting” hours earlier, but did not say that Monterrosa had died. Williams called a news conference Tuesday and condemned citywide looting that had taken place, but avoided discussing the police shooting.
“It’s always a tragedy any time an officer has to use force,” Williams said Wednesday. “My condolences to his family. It is a difficult thing to happen, I understand that.”
Williams also touted reforms that have been implemented since he took over last year, following the resignation of ex-Chief Andrew Bidou. Those include a greater emphasis on deescalation, he said.
Monterrosa’s family has retained Bay Area attorney John Burris, a prominent civil rights lawyer who has sued the city several times over fatal police shootings.
Melissa Nold, an attorney with Burris’ firm, said Wednesday that the family is asking to view the body camera footage, video from the police cruiser, and any surveillance video from Walgreens.
“(Videos) should be released immediately,” Nold said. “If the city wants to be transparent, they need to release them now.”
Williams pledged to release body camera footage of the incident before a 45-day legal deadline.
Monterrosa’s death comes in the midst of nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, which has led to second-degree murder charges against one officer and felony counts against three others, as well as widespread calls for police reform. There have been several protests in the city of Vallejo, which in recent years has been the site of several controversial fatal shootings by its police force.
In February 2018, Vallejo Ofc. Ryan McMahon shot and killed Ronell Foster, after attempting to stop Foster for not having a light on his bicycle. Foster ran from McMahon, and the two struggled behind a dumpster. During the struggle, McMahon shot foster, 32, killing him. Foster’s family has sued the McMahon and the department.
In February 2019, six Vallejo officers fired dozens of shots at Willie McCoy, 20, a Suisun City resident who was unresponsive in his car at a Taco Bell drive-thru. McCoy had a stolen pistol in his lap. His death was followed by criticism and a still-ongoing lawsuit filed by Burris, which called for federal oversight of the Vallejo police department.
In 2012, one Vallejo officer — Sean Kenney — made national headlines when he shot and killed three people within five months. Kenney retired in 2019, in part because of injuries from a 2017 incident in which he shot and seriously injured Vallejo resident Kevin DeCarlo after DeCarlo reportedly rammed Kenney’s unmarked police car.
Since 2016, five Vallejo officers have had multiple instances where they fired their duty weapons. In all cases, the officers were either cleared of wrongdoing by internal probes and the District Attorney, or the probes are still ongoing.
Monterrosa had prior arrests on suspicion of shoplifting, theft, shooting into a home, attempted murder, and weapons charges, Williams said. The officer who shot him, as well as witness officers, have been put on paid administrative leave.
Williams said that on Monday night and Tuesday morning, the city was targeted by organized looters who targeted various businesses throughout the city. The looting and burglaries were “horrific,” he opined, adding that it was the worst he’d seen in his 27 years in law enforcement.
“This was an orchestrated, organized assault on our city,” Williams said. “There were social media advertisements to come to Vallejo and commit looting and crime and that’s what happened.”
Williams confirmed that following Monday’s looting, the National Guard was deployed in the city to protect various assets. He didn’t reveal what the assets were.
“I’m in support of having the National Guard here as Vallejo Police have been overwhelmed — even with mutual aid from other local agencies,” Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan said Wednesday. “It’s just not enough to field all the calls that we’re getting.”
The city reported looting at the Safeway in Glen Cove, plus another burglary at the Walgreens on Redwood.
Vallejo police fired tear gas at demonstrators protesting outside Vallejo Police Department headquarters on Tuesday night.
