This Officer-Involved-Shooting (OIS) involves the death of a fifteen-year-old girl, a horrific miscommunication by deputies who were engaged in an intense gunfight, and an alleged “cover-up” that was enhanced by police footage and recordings of the incident being hidden from the public for eighteen months.
This incident occurred on September 27, 2022 in San Bernardino, CA, and police footage (body cam, drone, audio recordings, and witness interviews) were just made public this week by independent journalist Joey Scott (follow him).
The San Bernardino CA Sheriff’s Office has not released much information on this case. However, it is the California Department of Justice that is the primary investigating agency. Therefore, it would be reasonable that the Sheriff’s Office defer any public statement to the California DOJ. And the California DOJ has taken a vow of silence.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff (Shannon Dicus) did make the following statement as this video was released, “My hope is that this video will be watched in its entirety and provide insight into the unfortunate events that unfolded that day.” “There has been speculation and misrepresentations about this case, and I would ask the public to allow the DOJ to complete its independent investigation before reaching a conclusion.”
What Happened
Savannah Graziano was a fifteen-year-old that had been (allegedly) abducted by her father (Anthony Graziano) - a fugitive that had killed his estranged wife/Savannah’s mother (Tracy Martinez) during a domestic dispute.
After the murder Anthony and Savannah went on the run. Due to the violent crime against Savannah’s mother - it was assumed by law enforcement that Savannah was also a victim and was “abducted” by her father.
Though there were some early reports that Savannah had an opportunity to flee from her father and did not. This is all information that should be included in the final report by the CA DOJ. Until then - we will continue to report that Savannah was likely “abducted” by her father.
Upon her abduction an Amber Alert was issued.
The day after the murder of Savannah’s mother deputies in San Bernardino, CA located the vehicle that the pair were driving and initiated a traffic stop. When the vehicle did not stop - a pursuit was initiated.
Anthony was in the driver’s seat of the fleeing car and Savannah was in the front passenger seat - no one else was in the vehicle.
During the pursuit - shots were fired at police from the passenger window. This was witnessed by deputies and civilians. A witness informed police that a gun was sticking out of the passenger side window - while the car was still being operated. It was the testimony of the witness that the driver (Anthony) could not have been the shooter.
Also, Savannah was wearing a “tactical” helmet which made it impossible for the witness to determine the age or sex of the passenger that had been firing from the passenger window.
Eventually the vehicle crashed and became disabled. Deputies swarmed the vehicle and Anthony engaged in a shootout with law enforcement. During this Savannah did not participate but was in a terribly unsafe position.
The Use of Force
A deputy that was closest to the front passenger side of the vehicle (where Savannah was still positioned) gave her orders to exit the vehicle and lay down on the ground (on the passenger side of the vehicle). Savannah complied with this order.
The deputy - recognizing that this was still an unsafe position told her to come towards his location. The deputy yelled, “Come, Come, Come.”
Savannah then stood up and ran towards that deputy.
Savannah was still wearing the helmet.
Another deputy on scene, who was on the other side of the car, up on a berm, who did not realize that Savannah had been given this instruction from the deputy - fired rounds at Savannah as she ran towards the deputy.
The deputy who gave the order to Savannah began yelling to “stop shooting” her but it was too late. Savannah sustained a fatal injury
“Come” or “Gun”?
There is an audio recording of the instructions from the deputy to Savannah. From a distance, with gunshots ringing in your ears - it is reasonable that the deputy who shot heard “Gun, Gun, Gun” before he fired - instead of “Come, Come, Come”.
Cover-up?
My consistent position is that police body cam footage should be released as quickly to the public as possible. Once all witnesses have been identified and interviewed - there should be no delay as the public is owed transparency from the government.
It is also important to realize that the “police” are not the ones who make the decision about the release of body cam footage. It is the politicians who actually run the police departments and the various state laws regarding public records that are to blame for delays in this area.
It took eighteen months for some1 the footage to be released in this case. That is unacceptable and if politicians are trying to foster mistrust of law enforcement - this is a great way to achieve that.
The Issue
Was it reasonable for the involved deputy to think that Savannah posed a deadly threat as she ran towards the other deputy?
Analysis
(Based on the current information.)
Savannah had previously been shooting at law enforcement officers. Therefore, all deputies on scene would have considered her as dangerous as her father.
The involved deputy did not know that Savannah had been instructed to run towards police to a safer position. This deputy had no way to know that the plan had changed and that Savannah was being instructed in this manner. If the deputy had this information - he clearly would not have fired his weapon.
The deputy who gave Savannah the instructions yelled, “Come, Come, Come”. From a distance, with gunfire ringing in your ear, it is reasonable that the deputy heard, “Gun, Gun, Gun”.
Savannah was reasonably perceived as a posing a deadly threat. The involved deputy should not face any criminal charges as his actions were objectively reasonable given the information that he would have possessed in the moment of the OIS.
Going Forward
Though this OIS was likely within the law - it is still a horrific tragedy that law enforcement officers everywhere should strive to avoid.
Every police leader and trainer in the country should be looking at this case and crafting policy and training in an effort to provide police officers with a plan on how to safely extract civilians from an active shooter scene.
Remember…
Police officers are the good guys.
Criminals are the bad guys.
Because. Intent matters.
There is a moral difference between: 1) a cop who makes a mistake in a stressful situation, and 2) a criminal who was trying to commit a crime & escape responsibility.
Final Thoughts
The CA DOJ has had this case for 500 days and no deputies have been charged. This speaks volumes as California is not necessary known as a place that goes out of the way to cover for cops. The political will in this state weighs in favor of prosecuting police officers.
If a deputy had killed a fifteen year-old girl, for no reason, and in violation of the law - they would have already been charged. This is not unreasonable to think.
There is a reason that the dash cam footage of Savannah (or her dad) shooting at deputies has not been released and my guess it is not to protect the cops. The CA DOJ also could confirm (or deny) if Savannah had gunshot residue on her hands.
It is my belief that much of the evidence is in favor of the police acting in a reasonable and lawful manner and that is the reason that it is being held from the public.
This article was written after much discussion with Eric Tansey from Failure to Stop -who is also covering this case.
We are still missing dash cam which would confirm/deny what actually occurred in this case.
Great breakdown! Thank you for providing context to this incident.
This was not a great situation & I can definitely understand how it happened; especially with this breakdown. Let’s look at it this way, THEY put themselves in a bad situation by fleeing & shooting at the police. You’re asking for trouble when you do stupid things like this. The police ARE the good guys & they risk their lives for us EVERY day!!! This officer has to live with the fact he shot a 15 year old girl for the rest of his life & I think that will weigh heavily on him. It was a miscommunication that led to this tragedy. I’m sorry to all involved.