The Vallejo police officer who shot and killed 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa in the early morning hours of June 2 has been identified by multiple law enforcement sources as a longtime cop who has fired his duty weapon on three previous occasions since 2015.
The officer, Jarrett Tonn, shot and killed Monterrosa a little after 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, after reportedly mistaking a hammer in Monterrosa’s sweatshirt pocket for a gun. Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams said Wednesday the officer fired through the windshield of his own patrol car at Monterrosa; he fired a total of five shots, but police have not said how many times Monterrosa was struck.
Tuesday’s shooting marks the fourth time in five years that Tonn has fired his gun at a person while on duty, including two shootings within six weeks in 2017, and a shooting in 2015 where he fired 18 times. None of the three prior shootings resulted in a death; internal investigations cleared Tonn of wrongdoing each time.
Williams said at a news conference that Monterrosa was shot while in a “half-kneeling position,” which the officer interpreted as Monterrosa readying himself to shoot. Monterrosa’s family have told reporters they believe he was surrendering to police when the officer fired.
“They executed him. There was no reason for them to kill my brother like that,” Monterrosa’s sister, Ashley Monterrosa, told ABC7 News.
The officer who fired his weapon has been placed on paid administrative leave, along with an unspecified number of other “witness officers,” police said.
Tonn could not be reached for comment. His police union’s attorney would not comment on the shooting or identify Tonn as the officer who shot Monterrosa. Vallejo police officials have also refused to identify the officer and said releasing the names of officers in such incidents threatens their safety, as well as that of officers in the department not involved in the shooting.
Tonn and the other officers were responding to reports of looting at a Walgreens on the 1000 block of Redwood Street in Vallejo. Monterrosa was one of about a dozen people present in the parking lot, several of whom began to flee when officers arrived, police said. Williams said police were called to the Walgreens multiple times that morning and the prior evening, in response to looting that occurred across the city in the wake of protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
On Wednesday, Williams said that the officer who shot Monterrosa “responded to a perceived threat,” but refused to say if he thought the officer’s shooting constituted excessive force. Williams said the looting in Vallejo Monday night and Tuesday morning was the worst he’d seen in his law enforcement career. Earlier in the evening, an officer had been injured in the same Walgreens parking lot after a sedan rammed into a responding patrol car.
Vallejo police waited more than 24 hours after Monterrosa’s death to publicly confirm that a person had been killed by a police officer. The National Guard arrived in Vallejo on Tuesday, at the request of the city manager and police chief.
Over the past decade, Vallejo cops have shot 32 people, 18 of them fatally; no officer has been fired for their role in a police shooting in that time.
“The administration, chief and the command staff ratifies the conduct of the police officers, therefore making them think they have a level of immunity,” civil right attorney John Burris, who has called for police reform measures in Vallejo since 2019, said Friday. “There’s a classic code of silence that exists, all for one and one for all. You can’t trust the internal affairs department and I don’t. You can’t trust this department.”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Friday his office is opening a review of the Vallejo police force dating back to 2013.
“Our communities are safer when our police departments can build public trust through good policies, practices, and training. This review and reform agreement we announce today with the City of Vallejo represents a critical step the Vallejo Police Department must take to build trust with people who have lost faith in them,” Becerra said in a statement.
U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson and state Assemblyman Tim Grayson had both called for an independent investigation into the shooting. Grayson said it was “absolutely unacceptable” police waited so long to confirm Monterrosa’s death.
Four shootings in five years
In May 2018, Tonn was sued by Vallejo resident Robert Strong, who alleges Tonn put him in a chokehold, took him to the ground and scraped his head against the concrete after Strong tried to film the officer with his cell phone. Strong was being pulled over for a minor traffic violation and Tonn activated his body camera moments before pulling Strong from the car, according to the suit.
On May 31, 2017, Tonn and another officer — Sean Kenney — shot and wounded Kevin DeCarlo while attempting to arrest DeCarlo on a felony warrant. The officers later testified DeCarlo rammed Kenney’s car, and that they believed he was reaching for a weapon. Several officers on scene had body cameras, but they weren’t activated until after the shooting.
Less than two months later, after returning to duty, Tonn chased a suspect following a violent carjacking and fired at him three times, believing the man, 33-year-old Victor Hurtado, had a gun. The bullets did not strike anyone and Hurtado was arrested later that day.
In 2015, Tonn was one of two officers identified as shooting and wounding Gerald Brown, 23, after he allegedly rammed a police vehicle with a car in 2015. Following the shooting, a Critical Incident Board of Review cleared Tonn and Officer Gary Jones in the incident.The incident began when officers attempted to pull over Brown, who was driving a stolen vehicle. After a short pursuit, Brown allegedly backed up his car into the officers’ cruiser as the pair were exiting the car. The officers fired a total of 19 shots — 18 by Tonn, and one by Jones — in two seconds. Brown was struck by the gunfire but survived and was booked into jail.
Tonn began his law enforcement career in 2007 with the Galt police department, according to public records. In 2013, his cousin and fellow Galt policeman, Officer Kevin Tonn, was shot and killed. Jarrett Tonn was one of the first officers at the scene, and spoke at his cousin’s funeral. The following year, he transferred to the Vallejo Police Department.
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