A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a teenage boy this weekend. Now an attorney representing his family wants all of the body camera footage of the shooting to be made public.
The Sheriff’s department said in a statement that deputies working out of the Apple Valley station responded to a 9-1-1 call from a home on Iroquois Road.
They say a dispatcher was told that 15-year-old Ryan Gainer was assaulting family members and damaging things around the house.
As deputies arrived, Gainer was reportedly armed with a five-foot-long garden tool with a sharp end. The department says Gainer ran toward one deputy with the tool… before another deputy shot him.
In that statement, Sheriff Shannon Dicus described Gainer’s death as a tragedy.
But DeWitt Lacy — a civil rights lawyer who is representing Gainer’s family — is questioning whether the department’s response was appropriate.
DeWitt confirmed with KVCR News that Gainer was autistic and was struggling through an episode when he was killed.
He was not available for an interview, but shared with news outlet the Guardian his concerns over the department’s refusal to share footage of Gainer’s final moments.
