Community wants DOJ investigation into Andy Lopez shooting

Source: Wayne Freedman KGO

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) --
The rage over the shooting of a teenager in Santa Rosa last fall has not passed. Activists claim there are too many police shootings and too many victims, including 13-year-old Andy Lopez who was killed while carrying an Airsoft rifle made to look like a real AK-47.

The Andy Lopez Memorial is ever-changing and becoming a community symbol in Santa Rosa. On Tuesday, citizens lodged yet another protest but this time not with their feet and not with their voices. Instead, they're using words, in a letter to the Department of Justice asking for an investigation of Andy's killing and 60 others since the year 2000.

"It means for them to come here and investigate what's going on, to be an oversight when the local officials won't oversee law enforcement themselves," explained attorney Izaak Schwaiger.

On the vacant lot in Santa Rosa where weeds grow taller and the memorial weathers in the hot sun, numbers on the sign count the days. If not for killing of 13-year-old Andy Lopez by Deputy Eric Gelhaus, Santa Rosa might not have come to this. But it has been eight months since the shooting without a decision by District Attorney Jill Ravetch about whether to press charges.


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