Today was another day of protests in Santa Rosa over the fatal shooting two weeks ago of eighth-grader Andy Lopez by a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy. About 100 people showed up this morning to address the regular meeting of the county Board of Supervisors about the killing. Afterward, a crowd of about 200 marched to the nearby Hall of Justice to demand a grand jury investigate the case.
The deputy who shot Lopez, Erick Gelhaus, spotted the 13-year-old on Oct. 22 carrying what turned out to be a pellet-gun replica of an AK-47 assault rifle. Gelhaus opened fire when Lopez didn't immediately comply with an order to put the gun down and instead began turning toward the deputy. Gelhaus, a 24-year department veteran with extensive experience as a police weapons trainer, fired eight shots, hitting Lopez seven times.
Santa Rosa police investigators have emphasized the similarity between the toy gun Lopez was carrying and an actual AK-47. Critics of the shooting have focused on the brief span — apparently less than 10 seconds — between the moment Gelhaus and his partner spotted the teenager and when Gelhaus opened fire.
Santa Rosa resident Alfredo Sanchez dramatized that issue at this morning's three-hour Board of Supervisors meeting, saying he was convinced Lopez's ethnicity played a part in the decision to shoot him.
"Mississippi one, Mississippi two, Mississippi three, Mississippi four, Mississippi five, Mississippi six, Mississippi seven, Mississippi eight, Mississippi nine, Mississippi ten. Boom! A life was taken in 10 seconds," Sanchez said.