No charges for officer in Sean Monterrosa shooting, State AG announces

(BCN) — California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Tuesday that a Vallejo police officer who fatally shot a man amid George Floyd-related protests in 2020 will not face criminal charges. Detective Jarrett Tonn shot and killed Sean Monterrosa, a 22-year-old San Francisco resident, outside of a Walgreens store on Redwood Street early on June 2, 2020, as Monterrosa was on a knee and unarmed.

Tonn later testified in an arbitration hearing that he believed Monterrosa was reaching for a gun so he fired five shots through the windshield of a police vehicle. Authorities later determined Monterrosa had a hammer but no firearm in his possession.

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The shooting caused national outcry and the California Department of Justice opened its investigation into the case in May 2021. A press release by Bonta’s office on Tuesday said investigators determined “there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer did not act in self-defense or in defense of his partner officers.”

Bonta’s office had also investigated whether the destruction by Vallejo police of the windshield involved in the shooting was a criminal act but determined that the officers involved in the decision to replace the windshield were not connected to the shooting and did not have a criminal intent to suppress or destroy evidence.

Bonta said in a statement that his office recently negotiated a civil stipulated judgment with the Vallejo Police Department “to institute crucially necessary reforms to their policies and practices,” including barring shooting from a moving vehicle.

“Sean Monterrosa’s life mattered and there is nothing that can make up for his death. His loss is and will continue to be felt by his family and the Bay Area community,” Bonta said in the statement. “It’s critical that these difficult incidents undergo a transparent, fair, and thorough review. My office remains committed to doing everything in our power to prevent these kinds of incidents from occurring and putting forward policy solutions to help ensure law enforcement are responsive to the needs of their communities.”

Tonn was dismissed from the Vallejo force following the shooting, but earlier this year prevailed in arbitration and was reinstated. An attorney for Monterrosa’s family, who has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Tonn that is still pending, was not immediately available to comment on the attorney general’s decision.

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