California Costco Shooting: Charges Filed Against Former LAPD Officer Accused Of Killing Disabled Man, DA Says
LAPPL News Watch
August 10, 2021
The California attorney
general’s office on Monday said it has filed manslaughter and assault
charges against a former Los Angeles police officer who is accused
of fatally shooting a mentally disabled man during an off-duty
altercation at a Costco store in 2019.
Salvador Sanchez, 32, a
seven-year veteran of the LAPD at the time of the June 2019 shooting,
was arrested Monday morning in Riverside County. His bail was set at
$155,000, according to jail records.
Sanchez is accused of killing
32-year-old Kenneth French and wounding his elderly parents during a
brief confrontation inside the Costco store in Corona, about 50 miles
southeast of Los Angeles. Sanchez was shopping at the store with his
family and holding his 1 1/2-year-old son when he was struck from behind
by French. Sanchez was knocked to the ground, and he opened fire,
fatally wounding French and critically injuring his parents, Russell,
58, and Paola French, 59, police say.
Sanchez shot French four times in
the back and shoulder, his mother once in the stomach, and his father
once in the back, Corona Police Chief George Johnstone said.
On Monday,
David Winslow, Sanchez's attorney, called his client's arrest a
"political stunt that does absolutely nothing to protect the public."
"The arrest of Sal Sanchez is a product of the politically motivated
program by the California Attorney General to prosecute police
officers," Winslow said in a statement. "Sal was not acting as a police
officer when he was attacked. He was off duty acting as a father in
self-defense and protecting his child."
Sanchez faces one count of
voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a semiautomatic
firearm.
The LAPD said he was terminated from the agency in July 2020,
but it declined further comment on Sanchez's arrest.
No comments:
Post a Comment