On July 15, Vallejo city officials announced that key information into the death of 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa had been destroyed. Instead of it being preserved for evidence in a developing case against the police department, they disposed of it.

On June 2, law enforcement answered a call outside of Walgreens for a reported ‘looting.’ An  officer arriving at the scene shot through the windshield of his police cruiser at Monterrosa after seeing what he thought was a gun in his sweatshirt pocket. 

It was a hammer.

Amid protests over the murder of George Floyd because of police violence, Monterrosa’s situation has caused more outrage in the city of Vallejo. 

The Solano County District Attorney recently recused herself from investigating and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office has been called to perform a criminal investigation, which they have yet to respond to. They earlier denied performing an investigation, putting trust in the local prosecutor (Solano County). 

“The city has discovered that the windshield … has been destroyed and the vehicle has since been placed back into service without prior consultation with the police chief or city attorney’s office,” a press release from the Vallejo City Manager’s office read divulging the misstep by the Vallejo Police Department.

The family attorney of Monterrosa, Melissa Nold, has come out to call the actions of the police department “something criminal.” 

“We were very concerned when we learned about it yesterday. It interfered with criminal prosecution and it interfered with our federal civil rights case. It prejudiced our case and the ability to prosecute this officer,” she said. “Why wasn’t the entire truck taken into custody immediately?”

The city of Vallejo has now said they are in contact with the FBI as well as having placed an official on administrative leave, but his identity has yet to be revealed. 

At this time, there are no other details available.