Gun violence, which includes police shootings, is a public health crisis in Vallejo. Since 2011, Vallejo, a city of approximately 122,000 people with a police force of about 100 officers, has seen 16 fatal shootings involving city officials. In addition, five of the department’s officers have been involved in at least two shootings since 2016.

After the February 2019 fatal shooting of young rapper Willie McCoy, activists and community members renewed their pleas for accountability and justice. The majority of those shot and killed by Vallejo officials have been working class Black and Latino men, people with disabilities, and queer people.

Gun violence diminishes the public health of our communities and inflicts insurmountable pain and trauma on the families and survivors. We must repair harm towards the community while decreasing the core drivers of crime. No one deserves to be shot dead in our community.

We call on Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan and City Manager Greg Nyhoff to fire and charge all city officials involved with the officer-involved shootings of Willie McCoy, Angel Ramos, Ronell Foster, Jeremiah Moore, Anton Barrett, and Mario Romero.