Details about last week’s shooting of a 13-year-old California boy holding a toy gun are raising a lot of questions about the actions of the deputy who shot him.
According to the Daily Mail, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus shot Andy Lopez before his partner was even able to get out of the patrol car. Earlier this week, we learned that Gelhaus only gave one warning before shooting the boy up to seven times.
The new developments are supporting eyewitness claims that only 10 seconds elapsed before Gelhaus opened fire on Lopez.
Accounts of just how quickly the shooting took place have been bolstered by investigators confirming that a second officer, a trainee, stayed at the wheel of the police car while Gelhaus approached the boy.
According to the Press Democrat, Santa Rosa police Lieutenant Paul Henry said that within seconds Gelhaus ordered the teenager to drop the weapon before his partner could take cover behind the open door of the vehicle.
This new information is also bolstering protestors’ case that Gelhaus should face charges over the shooting. They gathered on the day of Lopez’s funeral to call for justice in the teen’s death.
The protesters, including middle- and high-school-age students and members of the Occupy Oakland movement, assembled in downtown Santa Rosa before marching through streets with signs and hooded sweatshirts bearing photos of the boy.
‘Andy Lopez did not have to die,’ they chanted during the nearly three-hour, peaceful demonstration.
But Gelhaus has support from his fellow deputies.
Lieutenant Henry told the Press Democrat: ‘Deputy Gelhaus was able to engage more quickly because he didn’t have to drive the vehicle.
‘By the time (Gelhaus’s partner) had exited his door and taken cover, at that point Deputy Gelhaus had already engaged the subject, with the commands and with the weapon.
‘The threat was essentially over.’
The shooting is being investigated.
SOURCE: Daily Mail | PHOTO CREDIT: Facebook, Handout
