Dear Governor Newsom,

I support the family of Sean Monterrosa and their calls for systemic transparency and accountability. The actions they are asking you to take would not only bring justice to Sean’s family, but would create a model for all law enforcement across the state that abuse by police will not be tolerated.

Sean Monterrosa was a loving son and middle brother who worked with Latinx youth in the community and was dedicated to making a difference. Sean was kneeling down with his hands up when Vallejo police shot and killed him at a local Walgreens during protests for George Floyd. He was unarmed and cooperative, but Vallejo Police officer Jarrett Tonn shot Sean five times from behind the windshield of an unmarked police car. Officer Tonn has been involved in three other shootings on duty in the last 5 years alone—and his department has the highest rate of shooting residents in Northern California.

Attorney General Becerra has stated that he is committed to “review and reform” Vallejo PD, but that is not enough. We call upon you to take decisive action NOW:

1. Appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate the murder of Sean Monterrosa.
2. Fire, arrest and charge Officer Jarrett Tonn.
3. Investigate every Vallejo Police Department officer involved in the destruction of evidence in the case.

We are appalled by the treatment that Ashley and Michelle Monterrosa, along with 15 other activists, received after being arrested in front of your home in Fair Oaks on Friday, October 2, 2020. From the length of time there were held in jail, to the denial of food and water for over 22 hours, to the blatantly illegal actions such as forcibly removing the religious head covering from one of the women, to the unusually harsh criminal charges they received, it’s clear that the California Highway Patrol targeted them due to the nature of their political speech. This is made even more clear by the disparate treatment that a group of protesters for animal rights received when they were arrested on the same day, and released quickly without bail and citations rather than charges.

Will your office be complicit in this abuse of power?

At this point, the Monterrosa sisters have faced harsher discipline than the officers who killed their brother Sean and then destroyed evidence. We call on you to drop the charges against Ashley and Michelle Monterrosa, and the 15 others who stood in solidarity with them during a nonviolent act of protest. We call on you to meet with the Monterrosa family, and take action to help them get justice.

As long as police departments at the state and municipal level can injure and kill unarmed civilians, distort and destroy evidence, and retain abusive officers, your administration will be complicit in egregious civil rights violations of our Black and Brown communities. Please, demonstrate your progressive leadership and take action to get justice for Sean Monterrosa’s family and send a strong message to all Californians that nobody is above the law. Our communities are watching.

Signed,