Fifteen-year-old Savannah Graziano, who had been abducted at gunpoint by her father, was killed by police as she ran toward officers in September 2022, shocking new footage shows.
Shedding light on the tragic incident two years later was a police helicopter video that captured the scene that unfolded in Southern California after police chased the car in which the father had fled with his daughter.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on Friday released footage, including a 15-minute narrated video, after a lengthy campaign was waged by the Associated Press news agency and other media outlets who wanted the truth to come out.
Oh. My. God.
Police fatally shoot abducted teen as she was following instructions to move toward a deputy.
Just remember this when they say that they want to exempt the police from the next gun control bill.
Maddening! Incompetent!
Story: https://t.co/UpnJbtXxHz pic.twitter.com/0FCaKSfpe6
— 🩺 Dr. Napervillain Bunny🐰 (@Type07Safety) April 2, 2024
Before Savannah and her father were killed, officers had chased the man’s pickup truck for more than 60 miles. A helicopter filming the chase reported shots fired from the driver’s side and others from the passenger’s side. The father’s car had eventually stopped on a freeway east of Los Angeles in Hesperia, where officers ordered the man to let the girl out.
After the teenager had managed to escape from the pickup from the passenger’s side and was running toward the officers, however, some police officers recklessly opened fire. In the video, a deputy sheriff’s desperate plea to “Stop! Stop shooting her! She’s in the car! Stop!” can be heard. The shout later turned into a dramatic realization that the young woman had been killed.
For months, however, local officials would not say whether it was the father or the officers who killed Savannah. Before the tragic escape, Savannah Graziano had witnessed her mother being killed by her father near an elementary school.
