“Sean died for a bigger cause”: Remembering Sean Monterrosa by ThisIsLucyKang

Twenty-two year-old San Francisco resident Sean Monterrosa was unarmed and kneeling with his hands raised when Vallejo Police Officer Jarrett Tonn fatally shot him through the windshield of a moving police vehicle in a Walgreens parking lot during the early morning hours of June 2nd.

The family couldn’t get any answers from the police that night. Instead, it took a day and a half for the police department to admit an officer had killed someone, and the police union filed a temporary restraining order to prevent the release of the names of officers involved. Later it was discovered that vital evidence, the windshield from the police car, had been destroyed, prompting an investigation by the California Department of Justice.

Sean was shot less than an hour from when he sent his last text message to his sisters. Vallejo Police Officer Jarrett Tonn has been involved in multiple shootings in recent years. The Vallejo Police Department is currently under investigation for the alleged practice of bending their badges to commemorate fatal shootings, first reported by Open Vallejo. The Vallejo Police Department is the third most murderous police department in California.

The following is an edited excerpt from a longer interview with Michelle and Ashley Monterrosa, Sean’s sisters: