(RepublicanNews.org) – A 15-year-old girl who was killed in a shootout between police officers and her father on September 27th, 2022, was killed by police gunfire, the San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed. Savannah Graziano had been kidnapped by her father, Anthony Graziano, 45, who was on the run after shooting Savannah’s mother the day before.
In the weeks leading up to the killings, Graziano had moved out of the family home with his daughter. His son, Savannah’s younger brother, remained with their mother, Tracy Martinez. On September 26th, Graziano exited his pickup truck with a handgun and shot Martinez multiple times as she tried to escape. Savannah was reported to have been seated in the back of the truck during the attack. Graziano then shot at another car before fleeing the scene with his daughter still in the vehicle. The next day, his truck was pursued along the highway by law enforcement officers. Rifle shots were fired from his truck at the pursuing officers, disabling one patrol vehicle and shooting through the windshield of another.
Graziano crashed into an embankment after driving off the road and perished in the vehicle. His unarmed daughter was instructed by an officer to leave the truck and move toward the police. She did so, at one point crouching and pausing on the ground before getting back up and running towards him. As she ran, officers situated higher up at the scene began to shoot at her while the first deputy shouted at them to stop. The deputy’s plea was not broadcast via the radio, although it could be heard on his belt’s audio recording device.
For several months, authorities would not confirm whether the victim was shot by her father or by deputies, and the autopsy results for either of the Grazianos or Martinez have not been made public. On Friday, March 29th, the Sheriff’s Department released previously unseen helicopter footage of the fatal shootout and confirmed that it was deputy gunfire that killed Savannah. The Californian Department of Justice is investigating the teen’s death.
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