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Teen, reported kidnapped, was killed by deputies as she followed instructions, video shows
VIDEO | 14:57Newly released video footage shows San Bernardino deputies fatally shoot abducted teen
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BY NATHAN SOLISSTAFF WRITER
PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 2024 UPDATED APRIL 2, 2024 5 PM PT
Play Video
BY NATHAN SOLISSTAFF WRITER
PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 2024 UPDATED APRIL 2, 2024 5 PM PT
Play Video
BY NATHAN SOLISSTAFF WRITER
PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 2024 UPDATED APRIL 2, 2024 5 PM PT
Savannah Graziano, a 15-year-old who was abducted by her father in September 2022, was shot and killed by law enforcement even as she followed a deputy’s instructions to walk toward them on the side of a California highway, according to newly released video and audio.
The video, obtained through a California Public Records Act request by an independent journalist, contradicts statements made by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in the aftermath of the shooting that Savannah had fired shots at deputies before her death.
Savannah was fatally shot on Highway 15 in the San Bernardino County city of Hesperia nearly 24 hours after the California Highway Patrol had issued an Amber Alert about her abduction. Authorities found her mother, Tracy Martinez, shot to death in the street near her Fontana home, and the girl was missing. Her father, Anthony Graziano, was described as the main suspect behind the killing and the girl’s abduction. Authorities said he also fired at another person and a child at a nearby school around the same time.
His truck was described in the alert and was spotted by a civilian who saw the girl and her father Sept. 27, a day after her disappearance, authorities revealed Friday in a 15-minute video. The footage, which summarizes the shooting, was first published in The Guardian.
Following up on the civilian’s call, sheriff’s deputies found the father and daughter near the neighborhood of Lenwood but came under fire shortly before 11 a.m. when they tried to pull the truck over, San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials said. A 70-mile pursuit followed, with Graziano shooting outside the truck with a semiautomatic weapon. The pursuit came to an end on the side of the highway when he tried to drive up a steep embankment.
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March 14, 2024As seen in footage from a Sheriff’s Department helicopter, the truck reverses toward several law enforcement vehicles, and Graziano fires his weapon, kicking up puffs of dirt.
After the truck stops, Savannah can be seen getting out of the passenger side of the vehicle and crouching low to the ground as she moves toward a nearby sheriff’s deputy, who instructs her to walk toward him. She seems to hesitate, crouches and continues to walk forward. That’s when she is struck by a deputy’s bullet.
After the shooting, her body is blurred out in the video.
Someone can be heard saying over the radio, “Oh no,” after she is shot.
Deputies on the ground were not wearing body cameras, but the department released audio from a microphone on the belt of a deputy who was near the girl when she got out of her father’s truck.
“Passenger, get out,” the deputy repeatedly yells as gunfire erupts in the background.
He instructs the girl, “Come here! Come to me! Come, come, come … walk, walk, walk.”
The deputy pleads with his fellow officers to stop shooting as she falls to the ground.
“Stop shooting her! He’s in the car! Stop!” the deputy shouts. “She’s OK! He’s in the car! ... Stop!”
Police tried to provide medical aid to the girl, but she was gravely wounded and later died from her injuries at a hospital, according to authorities. Her father also died at the scene.