Police union tries to block city from naming cop who fatally shot Latino man in CA

The Vallejo, California, police union has filed a restraining order to try to block the city from releasing the name of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of a Latino man, media outlets reported.

Police haven’t released the name of the cop who shot 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa, The Times-Herald reported. The union filed a temporary restraining order in the Solano Superior Court, and a judge will decide whether to grant it, according to the outlet.

On June 2, officers reported to the scene of a reported looting and saw people leaving the area in cars, according to NPR. Police said Monterrosa, of San Francisco, was in a “kneeling position” with “his hands above his waist, revealing what they believed to be a gun,” NPR reported. An officer then shot from inside his patrol car, striking and killing Monterrosa.

Monterrosa had a hammer in his pants, investigations revealed, according to NPR.

The man’s family is demanding the police department release body camera footage of the fatal shooting.

“Release the footage, release the footage for sure and stop hiding,” Michelle Monterrosa, Sean’s sister, told KGO-TV.

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors also passed a resolution asking Vallejo police to release the video, according to KGO-TV.

Hundreds of protesters gathered over the weekend to call for the officer who shot Monterrosa to be charged, KGTV reported.

“I want convictions for all these cops because this has been going on for far too long,” Troy Davis, an organizer of Saturday’s protests, told the outlet.

Melissa Nold, an attorney representing Monterrosa’s family, told the station: “The city of Vallejo has a long history of distrust in the community. We don’t trust the police,” Nold said. “Unfortunately police have been speculating that Black and brown people ‘might do something bad’ and have been killing them for decades. Nobody draws a hammer on a police officer because it’s not a gun.”

California’s Justice Department has launched an investigation into the Vallejo police, the Sacramento Bee previously reported.

Monterrosa’s parents are immigrants from Argentina and he worked as a mentor and a tutor, according to The Guardian. Monterrosa was going to start a new job in carpentry before he was killed.

The police union has backed the officers involved in the shooting in a letter.

“Mr. Monterrosa abruptly pivoted back around toward the officers, crouched into a tactical shooting position, and grabbed an object in his waistband that appeared to be the butt of a handgun,” the letter read. “At no time did Mr. Monterrosa make any movements consistent with surrendering. Fearing that Mr. Monterrosa was about to open fire on the officers in the vehicle, the officer was forced to fire multiple rounds through his windshield. The officer used deadly force as a last resort because he had no other reasonable option to prevent getting shot.”

“Now, after protecting himself and fellow officers from imminent death or great bodily injury, the officer is facing multiple death threats to him and his children,” it continued. “We ask the public to support this officer and the good work the overwhelming majority of all officers perform to keep our communities safe.”

Protesters have been gathering across the country to call for racial equity and an end to police brutality since George Floyd, a Black man, died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25. A citywide curfew was in place for the protests in Vallejo on the night of Monterrosa’s death, according to NPR.