A teenage girl kidnapped by her father was following a sheriff’s deputy’s directions and appeared to be surrendering when other deputies fatally shot her during a gun duel on a Southern California roadway, according to recently released footage and audio.
On September 27, 2022, Savannah Graziano, 15, was shot and murdered while running toward the San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies in a hail of bullets. They also fatally shot her father, Anthony Graziano, 45.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department released the audio and video files, including a carefully produced and narrated 15-minute film, on Friday in response to The Associated Press and other media outlets’ public records requests. Although the deputies were not wearing body cameras, a sheriff’s helicopter and witness dashboard cameras captured video evidence.
Deputies pursued Graziano’s pickup truck for approximately 70 miles (110 kilometers), including along Highway 15. A helicopter crew on the chase reported bullets fired from the driver’s side. An officer and a passing driver both said that further rounds were fired from the passenger’s side. It is not clear who was shooting from the pickup truck.
The truck and deputies’ vehicles came to a halt on the desert freeway east of Los Angeles near Hesperia, around 35 miles (55 kilometers) north of Fontana, where her father had shot and killed her mother, his divorced wife, the day before.
The video captures Savannah Graziano’s death mere steps from safety.
A deputy, hiding behind a sheriff’s SUV, continuously shouts at her, “Passenger, get out!” The deputy then yelled, “Come to me, come to me!”
Wearing tactical gear and a helmet, the adolescent exits the pickup truck from the passenger side and sprints toward the deputy, temporarily crouching to the ground while he continues to issue her directions.
But when she rises from her crouch and approaches the deputy, others at a higher elevation open fire. The deputy cries, “Stop!” Stop shooting her! He is in an automobile! Stop!”
The sheriff’s department stated that the deputy’s shouts were not aired over the radio, but the audio was captured by his belt recorder.
A deputy in the helicopter shouts “Oh, no” over the radio after the teen’s shooting.
For months, officials refused to acknowledge who killed Savannah Graziano: her father or the deputies. The narrator in the latest footage asserts that the Grazianos suffered injuries from deputy rounds.
The government has not issued autopsy findings for the teen, her father, or her mother, Tracy Martinez, and has not identified the deputies involved. A spokesman for the agency responded to a request for comment on Tuesday.
According to the agency, four sheriff’s vehicles were hit by gunfire during the pursuit, and deputies collected multiple firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the pickup truck, as well as flash bangs, smoke grenades, body armor, and tactical helmets.
At the time of her shooting, Savannah Graziano was unarmed.
The state Department of Justice, which is investigating the shooting, referred media requests to a 2022 news release and declined to provide any comment. State law requires the agency to investigate any officer-involved shooting that results in the death of an unarmed person.
Savannah Graziano observed her mother’s murder from the backseat of her father’s pickup truck but did not intervene, authorities said. Her father stepped out with a weapon and shot Martinez multiple times near an elementary school during morning drop-off, sending youngsters and parents to flee for shelter. Anthony Graziano also shot a father and a child near the school.
According to Fontana police, Anthony Graziano had moved out of the family home about a month or two before the homicide as the couple was going through a divorce. Savannah Graziano fled with her father, while her younger brother remained with their mother.
Anthony Graziano and his daughter had been living in his pickup vehicle and hotels for several weeks before the assault, according to authorities. There were no reports of family violence or child abuse.
Following the incident in Fontana, officials issued an Amber Alert for Savannah Graziano, but investigators later questioned whether she accompanied her father willingly. Instead of addressing this, Friday’s video simply stated that they had issued an Amber Alert.
