The agents of the San Bernardino County Sheriff involved in a 2022 shooting along a California highway that killed a teenager and his fugitive father will not face criminal charges, state prosecutor Rob Bonto announced Friday.
Bonta published a report compiled by the California Department of Justice after an investigation that included interviews with officers, witnesses led on the way that day and relatives who recalled that the man and his daughter had a close relationship.
The Attorney General described the incident in a tragic situation with a tragic result.
“This report was quite difficult to publish, and I sincerely hope to provide the community with the answers they have been waiting for,” said Bonta in a statement. “The California Department of Justice aims to associate with the application of the law to build a fair and equitable legal environment, ensuring that the rule of law is confirmed and that justice is accessible to all.”
The video and audio launched by the department of the San Bernardino County Sheriff showed Savannah Grazian associated presses and other media.
According to the review of the Department of Justice, Anthony Graziano, 45, left with his daughter after he shot and killed Tracy Martínez, his wife separated from 45 years, while trying to flee his truck. The authorities said the teenager was in the truck when they shot her mother and an amber alert was issued.
San Bernardino County agents saw the truck the next day, and a 41 -mile chase occurred in the interstate 15. While Anthony Graziano drove, the authorities said that numerous rounds shot the agents from the rear and in the vehicle’s windows. The audio of the belt recorders of the deputies included the sounds of rounds that reached their patrol vehicles. A deputy suffered gunshot wounds in his arm and fingers in both hands.
The authorities said the shots continued to be triggered from the Grazian truck after he left the highway and climbed through a embankment. Around 65 housings and four firearms were found in the truck. The investigation also determined that 21 deputies returned fire.
The report indicates that the vehicle stopped and that the teenager, with a tactical helmet and a vest, left the front passenger door and initially bent down on the ground. Then he got up and moved to a deputy when he called her. She raised her right hand, and that was when other deputies opened fire, according to the report.
Anthony Graziano was found dead in the driver’s seat. The autopsy results showed that he died from a gunshot wound and also suffered bullet wounds on his shoulder, the lower back and leg. A toxicology report showed that it had methamphetamine and amphetamine, as well as morphine and hydrocodone in blood and urine.
No drugs or alcohol in the blood or urine of Savannah Graziano were found. His cause of death appeared as gunshot wounds.
The shooting residue was present in samples taken from the teenager and her father. The report indicates that shooting waste particles can be deposited by shooting a firearm, which is close to a discharge firearm or handling a firearm or ammunition.
The report indicates that “no conclusion” can be extracted from the waste test on whether the teenager or her father fired a firearm. But when trying to recreate multiple firing positions from inside the truck given the location of the dust burns left by the snout of a rifle that is in the vehicle, the researchers discovered that the driver would not have been able to shoot the rifle and still maintain control of the gas and brake pedals.
The prosecutors pointed out in the report that the evidence suggested that the deputies believed that both Graziano and their daughter, who had experience in the management of firearms and had participated in drills to train firearms with their father, raised an imminent threat and that the need to use lethal force was reasonable.
Family members told the authorities that Graziano had been living in his truck and that his daughter often stayed with him, sleeping in the truck next to a park. They said the teenager was upset by the divorce of her parents.
The report also included recommendations related to training and camera policies mounted on the board and body. The Attorney General said the Sheriff’s department had implemented training recommendations after the incident.
