A 15-year-old was gunned down by cops as she ran toward them for help after being kidnapped by her father, all while a deputy helplessly begged for other officers to stop firing, shocking new video shows.
Savannah Graziano, 15, was killed on September 27, 2022, after her father, Anthony John Graziano, 45, had murdered his estranged wife Tracy Martinez and abducted his daughter.
The tragic video of the shooting was released Monday after journalists requested it under the California Public Records Act. It shows that Savannah was following their instructions and does not prove, as police had previously claimed, that she was wearing tactical equipment when they shot her dead.
The footage shows the teen slowly moving toward officers outside a vehicle as a deputy takes cover by the front wheel of a police SUV. Suddenly, gunfire erupts and the teen is blurred out as she is killed by the cops.
‘Stop shooting her! He’s in the car! Stop! She’s OK! He’s in the car! … Stop!’ the deputy pleads.
After Tracy was killed, investigators issued an AMBER Alert for the teen. A civilian spotted the dad and daughter and police responded.
Deputies from San Bernadino County tried to pull Anthony Graziano’s truck over just before 11am when they were fired at by the father who had a semiautomatic weapon, officials with the sheriff’s department said.
Authorities followed the truck for about 70 miles, as the father continued to fire at them before Graziano tried and failed to take his vehicle up an embankment. He came to a stop on the side of the road.
The newly released footage includes a camera from the sheriff’s department helicopter and it shows Graziano attempting to go in reverse on the road as he fires again.
The 15-year-old Savannah can then be seen getting out of the car, as an officer says over the radio: ‘The girl’s out, the female juvie is out. She’s out on the passenger side.’
She keeps a low crouch but starts moving quickly toward the officers when suddenly a gunshot rings out and the footage blurs Graziano’s body.
The sheriff’s department deputies were not wearing body cameras but audio was released from an officer near the girl as she was getting out.
He repeatedly yells: ‘Passenger, get out! Come here! Come to me! Come, come, come… walk, walk, walk.’
Back over the radio, after the 15-year-old was shot, an officer can then be heard with a resigned ‘oh, no.’
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at the time of the shooting that it looked like Graziano was running toward deputies wearing ‘tactical gear,’ but the aerial footage shows that while Savannah is clearly speeding up, she’s still moving in a crouch and her outfit remains unclear.
One deputy was injured by shrapnel during the firefight, Dicus said.
Officials have also suggested it’s possible that Savannah fired at officers along with her father, but this remains under investigation.
Weapons, ammunition, flash-bang and smoke grenades and tactical helmets were found at the scene.
The firearms were legally owned by Graziano, who was not or probation or parole. Savannah’s younger brother told investigators the siblings grew up around guns.
Savannah was pronounced dead at the scene, while her father Anthony was also eventually shot dead, though the footage doesn’t show when that occurred.
‘There needs to be better training so that unarmed people aren’t killed,’ CJ Wyatt, Savannah’s uncle, told The Guardian.
‘Hopefully this video can be used for training – something has to be done differently. She didn’t have to die,’ Tracy’s brother said.
Wyatt ultimately places the blame on Savannah’s ‘abusive and manipulative’ father, Anthony.
‘She was a really sweet girl at her core, and she didn’t deserve this.’
Graziano shot Martinez multiple times and also turned and fired on a nearby car with daughter Savannah in the backseat. Witnesses and two videos – one from a bystander and another from a doorbell – show she stayed still as her mother screamed.
‘She’s just sitting in the backseat,’ Sgt. Christian Surgent said.
Authorities had previously said the teen was somewhere else during her mother´s killing and was later abducted by her father.
Martinez was able to identify her killer as Graziano before she died, Surgent said, but never mentioned her daughter being there. Neither video showed the shooting.
Family members told investigators that the couple had been going through a divorce. Martinez was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office provided no further statement or details on the shooting.
Officials previously said the deputies involved had a different view of the truck as they were in a higher elevation to where it stopped.
The deputies fired because they saw a person get out of the truck and head toward the nearest deputy, officials said, unaware he had called to her.
The incident remains under investigation by the state’s Department of Justice under a law that requires that police involved in killings be named publicly.
The sheriff’s department has faced increased scrutiny in recent months as its faces several wrongful arrests and death lawsuits last year.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
