Andy Lopez Family Files Claim vs. Sonoma County; Deputy "Emotional" After Shooting

[Xithras]

12. Actually there are two major problems with your assumption.

1) As has already been mentioned, the officers never gave him a chance to drop the weapon. They shot a 13 year old kid in the back as he started to turn around to see who was yelling at him.

2) In California, open carry of a rifle is only a misdemeanor. Even if it HAD been a real gun, the officers had no legal justification to shoot at him without secondary evidence of a threat. According to all of the witnesses, there was none in this case. The maximum sentence for violating AB 1527 is a year in county jail, not death. This could have been a 30 year old guy carrying a real rifle, and the officers would have STILL grossly overstepped their legal authority in this incident by shooting the way they did.