A lengthy and graphic video details the September 2022 incident in which a 15-year-old girl, kidnapped by her father, was gunned down by deputies at then end of a 70-mile pursuit.
The video was obtained via a Public Records Act request by independent journalist Joey Scott and shared first with The Guardian. It shows that Savannah Graziano was shot — apparently by deputies at a distance — as she complied with another deputy’s directions to walk to his location, alongside Interstate 15 in the city of Hesperia.
“Stop! Stop shooting!” the deputy calling to Savannah shouts. “He’s in the car! Stop!”
A deputy in the helicopter reports that “the girl’s out, guys.”
“Ah, no,” he says as the teen goes down.
Savannah’s father, Anthony Graziano — who fired multiple shots at deputies throughout the long pursuit — was also shot and killed.
The day before, Graziano allegedly shot and killed Savannah’s mother, Tracy Martinez, outside an elementary school in Fontana, as CrimeOnline reported. An Amber Alert was issued for the girl, and the pursuit began the next day when witnesses spotted both Savannah and Graziano’s truck.
Graziano tried to exit the interstate in Hesperia, performing a U-turn and driving up on the on-ramp. But when he tried to cut across the sandy area between the ramp and the roadway, he couldn’t make it up an embankment and backed down to the highway again, but now facing the wrong way with his truck apparently disabled.
Savannah can be seen getting out of the vehicle as the deputy on the ground calls to her to walk toward him. But with her father still firing at deputies, and deputies at higher locations apparently unable to see what was happening, they shot her.
The 15-minute video released by the San Barnardino County Sheriff’s Office tracks Graziano’s vehicle on maps, then brings in aerial footage and cell phone video from witnesses. The deputies involved in the shootout weren’t wearing body cameras, but the sheriff’s office included audio from the belt recorder of the officer who was directing Savannah to him. That recording also captured the sounds of a barrage of gunfire.
Reports from a witness and one deputy indicated that Savannah may have fired at deputies out the passenger window of her father’s truck, but the video released by the sheriff’s office said that had not been confirmed.
Several police vehicles were hit by gunfire from Graziano’s truck, and at least one was disabled because of it. Inside the truck, investigators found multiple weapons and ammunition, as well as flash bangs, smoke grenades, body armor, and tactical helmets.
While the sheriff’s office is conducting an internal review of the incident, the main investigation is being conducted by the California Department of Justice.
The release of the footage marks the first time that the sheriff’s office admitted it was their bullets that killed the girl and not those of her father.
CJ Wyatt, Savannah’s uncle and her mother’s brother, told The Guardian he blamed an “abusive and manipulative” Anthony Graziano for the entire incident, but added that “there needs to be better training so that unarmed people aren’t killed.”
“Hopefully this video can be used for training – something has to be done differently,” he said. “She didn’t have to die.”
The Los Angeles Times published the full video on its website.
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[Featured image: Left, Anthony John Graziano and Savannah Graziano/Fontana Police Department]
