Sean Monterrosa’s family responds to order to reinstate Vallejo police officer who killed him

VALLEJO – Michelle and Ashley Monterrosa vowed to continue seeking justice after the Vallejo police officer who killed  their brother was ordered reinstated by an arbitrator earlier this month.

Detective Jarrett Tonn shot and killed Sean Monterrosa as he fled the scene of a burglary on June 2, 2020, during protests of the police murder of George Floyd. The city attempted to fire Tonn for the shooting but ultimately lost after a lengthy legal process.

“Sean is just a little piece of this,” Michelle Monterrosa said at a press conference held on the steps of city hall Thursday. “There are many more families besides our family who have been lied to, who have had evidence destroyed in our cases. This city has allowed for unarmed civilians, black and brown men, to be killed. This is not just about Sean, this is about everyone getting a sense of justice.”

Attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing the Monterrosa family in an ongoing civil lawsuit, said that the decision to reinstate Tonn is one that Monterrosa’s family and the community of Vallejo will not accept.

“We will not allow Jarrett Tonn or any other killers to supervise our community,” Merritt said. “We have decided, as a community, that we have overruled that decision of the nebulous, unidentified arbitrators. They do not get to tell us that our community cannot be safe.”

Merritt said that he would personally set aside funds for a private security force to identify the area that Tonn is assigned to and protect the community from further violence. Merritt committed $10,000 to the security force and civil rights attorney Melissa Nold said that she would match that amount.

Merritt also said that there were several witnesses who were present when Tonn shot Monterossa and that their testimony is needed to strengthen the case.

However, he said that the witnesses are hesitant to come forward “because of the amount of violence that the department is responsible for and the fear between the community and policing.”

Merritt said that the community will protect those that come forward and that witnesses can retain their anonymity because the family’s legal team is more interested in what witnesses saw and the evidence they can offer rather than their personal identities.

Merritt said that the Monterrosa family’s civil lawsuit is a tool to pressure the city to make changes in police department policy.

“These lawsuits will allow us to break the city into submission financially,” Merritt said. “But we know that when we do that we are costing the taxpayers money so we don’t want to see that happen over and over again. We believe that the lawsuit will be successful but more importantly, we must see Tonn prosecuted and incarcerated for his crimes.”

While Tonn won his job back, he could still be prosecuted for the killing. In May 2021, California Attorney General Rob Bonta began a separate Department of Justice investigation to determine if Tonn should face criminal charges for killing Monterrosa. That investigation has been underway for over two years without any news of criminal prosecution.

Michelle Monterrosa said that she is hopeful that the ongoing investigation and the possibility that the Justice Department will pursue a consent decree are steps in the right direction.

A consent decree is the potential next step in the legal process to force the Vallejo Police Department to institute a set of 45 required reforms. The department has completed only eight out of 45 reform recommendations. If the Justice Department seeks a consent decree, the completion of the remaining reforms will be overseen by a judge who can set legal consequences for the department if they are not completed.

Tonn had claimed that he had fired on Monterrosa because he thought Monterrosa was crouching in a shooting stance and reaching for a weapon. When officers searched Monterrosa’s body they found a roofing hammer tucked in the pocket of his hoodie but no firearm.  

According to a statement from Tonn’s attorney Joshua Olander, the arbitrator found that the outside investigation conducted by the Southern California-based OIR Group relied too heavily on hindsight information that was not available to officers at the time, which is prohibited by California law. The arbitrator’s decision took into account that the other officers present also perceived that Monterrosa posed a deadly threat, Olander said in the statement.

Olander also said that the arbitrator noted that then-Police Chief Shawney Williams had acknowledged in an email that Tonn “was justified in using deadly force,” which contradicted the city’s decision to fire him.

The Monterrosa sisters asked Vallejo community members to join them and pack the city council chambers at the Sept. 12 council meeting to demand the release of a report by former Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano, which examined the practice of Vallejo police officers bending the tips of their badges to commemorate shootings.

The city never publicly released the report, claiming that it included protected personnel files. Testimony in subsequent court hearings has revealed more details about the badge bending practice – including implicating Tonn in participating – and has brought the thoroughness of the Girodano investigation into question.