“The petition will request that the AG review the Gelhaus criminal investigation in light of recent revelations that call into question the integrity of that investigation,” Threet told The Press Democrat. Jerry Threet, a civil rights lawyer and former director of the county’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Oversight, is also preparing to request California Attorney General Rob Bonta revisit the Lopez shooting and determine whether Gelhaus should be held criminally liable for the boy’s death. “I don’t know if I would have come to the same conclusion.” “That was not information that I had available to me at the time that I made the decision that I did,” District Attorney Ravitch said in a July interview with local radio station KSRO, regarding details that came to light in the years following her 2014 decision not to press charges against Gelhaus. The boy’s death is also the focus of a recent investigative documentary, “3 Seconds in October,” which uses previously confidential police investigation records, interviews and court documents to reconstruct a detailed account of the shooting and its aftermath.Īccording to a statement from Sonoma County independent filmmaker Ron Rogers, the 28-minute documentary has spurred a reexamination of the shooting. His name was among the many rallying cries of last summer’s protests against police violence in Sonoma County. Today, Lopez’s death and its fallout still stoke anger and pain in the community. Weeks after Lopez was killed, his family filed a civil rights lawsuit against Gelhaus, the Sheriff’s Office and the county, which they settled for $3 million in 2018.Ĭommunity organizations have held anniversary vigils for Lopez nearly every year since. He was promoted to sergeant in 2016 and retired in 2019.
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Lopez was shot seven times and died at the scene.ĭistrict Attorney Jill Ravitch’s office cleared Gelhaus of criminal wrongdoing. He said that he saw the boy turn toward him and raise the barrel of the gun, which turned out to be a plastic replica. Seconds later, Gelhaus fired several shots at Lopez. The deputies called in a suspicious person report to dispatchers and radioed for backup. 22, 2013, when Deputy Erick Gelhaus and his patrol partner came upon him and ordered him to drop his weapon, which sheriff’s officials said appeared to be a rifle. Lopez was walking with an airsoft gun along Moorland Avenue on Oct.
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“On this day in 2013, a Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff stole Andy from his family and from us,” reads the event’s flyer, distributed in both English and Spanish. Participants are encouraged to bring flowers, candles, songs, poems and prayers. Friday marks the eighth anniversary of the death of Andy Lopez, a 13-year-old Santa Rosa boy who was shot and killed by a Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy in 2013.Ī “Remembering Andy Lopez” observance will be held at Andy’s Unity Park at Moorland and West Robles avenues from 5 to 7 p.m.