Video shows California officers fatally shooting abducted teenager as she surrenders

A young girl who had been kidnapped by her father was following a sheriff's deputy's orders and appeared to be surrendering when other police officers fatally shot her during a gun battle on a Southern California highway, according to a released video and audio.

15-year-old Savannah Graziano was fatally shot and killed as she ran towards San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies amid a gun battle on Sept. 27, 2022. Her father, 45-year-old Anthony Graziano, was also fatally shot.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department released the video and audio clips, including the 15-minute video released on Friday in response to public records requests made by The Associated Press and other media outlets.

The video footage was not from the body-worn cameras but was recorded by a sheriff’s helicopter and witness dashboard cameras.

Savannah and her father were shot after the deputies pursued Graziano’s pickup truck for some 70 miles (110 kilometres), including along Highway 15.

A helicopter crew following the chase reported shots fired from the driver’s sidewhile other shots were fired from the passenger’s side, according to a deputy and a witness motorist.

The teenage girl was just steps from safety when she was killed, as the video footage shows. A deputy, who was taking cover behind a sheriff's SUV, repetitively calls out to her, “Passenger, get out!” and "Come to me, come to me!”

Wearing guards and a helmet, the teenager gets out of the pickup truck from the passenger side and runs towards the deputy. But as she starts running towards the deputy, other officers from a higher elevation open fire. The deputy was screaming “Stop! Stop shooting her! He’s in the car! Stop!”

However, the deputy's shouts were not broadcast over the radio, said the sheriff's department, but the audio was captured by his belt recorder. A deputy in the helicopter can be heard saying ‘Oh, no’ over the radio after the teen was shot.

The autopsy reports of the teenager and her father who was killed a day before the gun battle have not been released.

The department reported four sheriff's department vehicles were struck by gunfire during the hunt, and deputies seized multiple firearms and hundreds of rounds from the pickup truck, as well as flash bangs, smoke grenades, body armour and tactical helmets.

Savannah Graziano was not armed when she was shot.

The state Department of Justice, which is investigating the shooting, referred media inquiries to their 2022 news release and declined tocomment. State law requires the department to review any officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian.

Anthony Graziano and his teenage daughter had been living out of his pickup truck and hotels for weeks before the violence, police informed. But there were no reports of domestic violence or child abuse.

(With inputs from agencies)