VALLEJO, Calif. — An officer with the Vallejo Police Department in Northern California who was fired after a fatal shooting in 2020 is getting reinstated, according to his attorneys.
Detective Jarrett Tonn fatally shot 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa, of San Francisco, near a Vallejo Walgreens store in the early morning hours of June 2, 2020, following reports of a burglary/looting at the location, KRON4 News reported.
At the time of the fatal encounter, civil unrest was rampant across the country due to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Following the shooting, Tonn was terminated by the Vallejo Police Department. However, on August 18 he was reinstated with full back pay. The reinstatement decision was issued following an evidentiary hearing on the shooting by a neutral aritrator, Tonn’s attorney, Joshua Olander, told the news outlet.
According to police, Tonn was riding in the backseat of an unmarked pickup truck as he and two other officers responded to a reported burglary at a Walgreens. Monterrosa ran from the building as the truck pulled into the business parking lot.
Tonn engaged Monterrosa with lethal force after mistaking a hammer in his pocket for a gun. He fired five times through the windshield, striking the man once in the back of the head, the Vallejo Sun reported.
“This decision was issued after an evidentiary hearing and represented the second determination by a neutral hearing officer that Detective Tonn’s use of deadly force was legally justified and his termination was not supported by the facts and the law,” Olander’s said in a statement.
According to Olander, the arbitrator found that an independent investigation by the OIR Group improperly relied on facts that were unknown to the officers when determining whether they reasonably believed there was a threat of imminent harm when Tonn shot Monterrosa.
The arbitrator determined the OIR Group’s analysis relied on facts only known with the benefit of hindsight, which is a violation of California law, Olander noted.
The detective’s attorney said the decedent was a serious threat and the use of force was “objectively reasonable.”
“Monterossa presented a life-threatening danger,” Tonn’s attorney wrote in correspondence with KRON4. “Detective Tonn’s use of deadly force was legally justified and his termination was not supported by the facts and the law. Detective Tonn’s use of force was objectively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances. Further, Mr. Monterossa’s actions immediately preceding the shooting were determined to be inconsistent with surrender or retreat.”
“Detective Tonn and the membership of the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association will continue to serve and protect the citizens of Vallejo,” Olander wrote.
The detective’s lawyer also claimed that former VPD Chief Shawny Williams was motivated by heated politics, which resulted in Tonn’s termination.
Olander wrote, “Detective Tonn and the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association are thankful for the due process rights in California, so that determinations are rendered based on the law and evidence rather than political expediency.”
The City of Vallejo declined to release the arbitrator’s findings on Monday, which is a public record under California law. The city said the report needs to be reviewed and redacted by legal counsel. City officials did not respond to requests for comment, the Vallejo Sun reported.
Sean Monterrosa (Image via GoFundMe)
Monterrosa’s family claimed he was attending a George Floyd demonstration when he was fatally shot, and did not present a danger to the officer.
“The decision to reinstate him is appalling,” a family attorney told KRON.
On a sidenote, Tonn’s cousin, Officer Kevin Tonn of the Galt (California) Police Department, was shot and killed in the line of duty while responding to a burglary in 2013.
Officer Kevin Tonn (Foothills Canine Association)
“He was my best friend,” Tonn said, following his cousin’s death. “He had a real passion for the job. (He was) one of he best police officers I knew.”
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