The Vallejo Police Department released body-worn camera video Wednesday from the officer-involved shooting that killed Sean Monterrosa last month.
Sean Monterrosa, a 22-year-old man from San Francisco was fatally shot by police on June 2 as police tried to stop looters during protests against George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
Just before the body-worn camera video was released to the public it was shown to the Monterrosa family, who said the video only creates more questions.
None of the three body-cam videos police released shows the actual shooting, just the aftermath. The video do show that the fatal shots were filed through the windshield of a police cruiser as the officers arrived.
Monterrosa's family is upset because they said law enforcement is trying to sweep the case under the rug.
"The kid was on his knees trying to surrender, hands going up, and they saw the threat of a gun and they shoot him," said Civil Rights Attorney John Burris, who is representing the Monterrosa family. "That was not seen. There was no video of it. It means someone told the chief that in the beginning."
Monterrosa's sister, Michelle Monterrosa, said the Wednesday's update shows police are "playing hot potato" over her brother's death.
"Sean deserves to be here like everyone else and it shows how the system continues to fail us all," she said.
The Monterrosa family, along with dozens of supporters, provided their comments in a news briefing ahead of the Vallejo Police Department press conference. The family is planning a March for Justice at 12 noon Saturday starting at City Hall.
In the June 2 incident, Vallejo police said Monterrosa started running toward a car that just rammed into a police unit. They thought he was armed.
Police have said the detective, an 18-year veteran of the department, opened fire because he believed Monterrosa was reaching for the butt of a handgun near his waistband. After the shooting, officers discovered he had a 15-inch hammer in the front pocket of his sweatshirt but no firearm.
The name of the detective has not been released by the city of Vallejo. The Vallejo Police Officers' Association filed for a temporary restraining order to block the release of his name following the shooting, and a judge approved it against the city's opposition, police said.
Days after the shooting of Monterrosa, state Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced an agreement with the city of Vallejo to reform its Police Department, a plan that was already being developed before the shooting.
The Vallejo City Council has requested that the attorney general's office also investigate the shooting but is awaiting a response. The shooting is currently being investigated by Police Department internal affairs and the Solano County District Attorney's Office.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
