Vallejo to pay $8.5M to family of Sean Monterrosa killed by officer in 2020
A memorial to Sean Monterrosa at Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, June 8, 2020. Monterrosa, who was unarmed, was killed by Vallejo police on June 2. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
VALLEJO, Calif. - The city of Vallejo will pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Sean Monterrosa, who was shot and killed by a police officer outside a Walgreens nearly six years ago, the family’s attorney confirmed to KTVU.
The 22-year-old San Francisco man was killed on June 2, 2020, after he was shot by Officer Jarrett Tonn outside a Walgreens store on Redwood Street – a week after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd.
Tonn and two other officers were responding to alleged reports of looting at the store in an unmarked pickup truck.
Body camera footage shows Tonn, who is seated in the backseat of the vehicle, stick an AR-15-style assault rifle in between the two officers and fire five times through the windshield at Monterrosa as the police vehicle approached the store.
Monterrosa died a short time later.
Vallejo police have alleged that Tonn fired at Monterrosa because he mistook a hammer in Monterrosa's sweatshirt pocket for the butt of a gun.
Attorney General Rob Bonta declined to charge Tonn for the shooting.
In 2024, San Francisco named a street after Monterrosa.
Tonn was fired by Vallejo police, but was later reinstated after he sued the city.
The firm of McEldrew Purtell in Philadelphia is representing the family, who asked for privacy with regard to the settlement.