Teen girl escaping her kidnapper dad’s truck is shot dead by cops
A newly released video shows California teen Savannah Graziano, 15, exiting her dad's truck and trying to surrender before being shot dead.
A teenage girl who followed police officers’ instructions to exit the vehicle of her armed kidnapper father was tragically shot dead by them.
Savannah Graziano, 15, is seen slowly walking towards cops at the side of a freeway when she is suddenly gunned down. The newly released aerial video blurs her out at the moment that the gunfire is heard.
The footage from obtained from the San Bernardino’s Sheriff’s Department under the California Public Records Act also includes a belt audio recording from a deputy closest to Savannah when she got out of her dad’s pickup truck.
‘Passenger, get out! Come here! Come to me! Come, come, come,’ officers can be heard coaxing Savannah. ‘Walk, walk, walk…’
An officer can be heard saying, ‘Oh no,’ after Savanah gets shot but fellow law enforcement personnel.
‘Stop shooting her, he’s in the car! Stop!’ an officer can be heard pleading, referring to her father. ‘She’s OK, he’s in the car… Stop.’
The sheriff’s department commented on the footage: ‘You can hear him calling her over and telling other deputies that the person who exited the truck was the passenger and for them to stop firing, but it was too late.’
Savannah was pronounced dead on September 27, 2022, after being transported from the scene on Interstate 15 in Hesperia to a hospital. Her father, Anthony John Graziano, 45, had her in the passenger’s seat and led cops on a high-speed chase for 70 miles before getting stuck on an embankment.
The day before, Anthony had fatally shot Savannah’s mother, Tracy Martinez, outside of a school in Fontana.
Savannah was wearing ‘tactical gear’ and a helmet when she got out of the truck, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus. The aerial footage did not seem to confirm that. The girl was not armed.
Anthony fired multiple rounds from his truck before being shot dead by cops.
One deputy was injured by shrapnel and four official vehicles were shot up.
The incident is under an ongoing investigation by the California Department of Justice.
Savannah’s uncle said ‘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. She didn’t have to die,’ CJ Wyatt told The Guardian.
‘She was a really sweet girl at her core, and she didn’t deserve this.’
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