#Costco corona shooter free#

Sanchez stated he drew his firearm and fired because he believed his and his son’s lives were in danger and there was no other option,” the DOJ investigator wrote, citing Sanchez’s statement to the DA’s Office. “Sanchez stated he woke up on the ground and saw a person with a gun. Sanchez said he suffered a temporary loss of hearing and vision. Two months later, in August, Sanchez told a district attorney’s investigator that he saw someone holding a gun to his head, saw a white flash, heard a gunshot and felt a hot and searing pain to his head. He said French was “hunkered down” and believed he was armed, “so I shot,” the investigator wrote, citing police body-worn camera footage. Sanchez told Corona police officers that he saw a “flash” and believed he had been shot. A witness said she shouted “No, no no,” after Sanchez drew his weapon. Russell French, 58, pushed his son away and Paola French, 59, moved between Sanchez and her son. “You shot me!” Sanchez said before falling and pulling out his handgun.Ī witness said French, his fists clenched, stared at Sanchez but did not advance toward him. when French approached Sanchez from behind and without warning punched Sanchez in the right side of his head, the investigator wrote. McKinley Street, near where a vendor was handing out sausage samples, about 7:45 p.m. The Frenches and Sanchezes were in the deli of the warehouse store on N. 12 through the California Public Records Act cites witness statements and other evidence that conflict with assertions made by Sanchez to Corona police and the District Attorney’s Office. 9 and obtained by Southern California News Group on Thursday, Aug. The document filed in Superior Court in Riverside on Aug. Police Commission inquiry that resulted in his dismissal, said Sanchez’s arrest was part of “a politically motivated program” by Attorney General Rob Bonta to prosecute police. Monday, David Winslow, the attorney who represented Sanchez during the L.A. An attorney could not be located Thursday to speak on his behalf.

#Costco corona shooter free#

He is free after posting bail, and a court date has not been set. Sanchez was charged Monday with voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a firearm. “A reasonable and objective fact-finder would likely conclude that nothing about the aforementioned circumstances would make it appear to a reasonable person - particularly one with knowledge similar to Sanchez’s as a trained police officer - that he or she was in imminent danger of death or great bodily injury after being struck and that firing a gun at Kenneth French was necessary to prevent further injury,” the investigator wrote. The document says that after French, an intellectually disabled man, struck Sanchez’s head with his hand, causing him to fall to the floor, French stood two to three feet from Sanchez before French’s parents Paola and Russell pushed him away. The investigator’s opinion, contained in a sworn statement written to obtain an arrest warrant, outlines in the most specific detail yet why the Attorney General’s Office decided to prosecute Sanchez, 30, two years after the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges and a Riverside County grand jury voted not to indict him. That's when he fired his weapon.The lives of off-duty Los Angeles police Officer Salvador Alejandro Sanchez and his 18-month-old son were not at risk on a June night in 2019 when Sanchez unleashed a volley of 10 shots inside a Costco in Corona, fatally striking 32-year-old Kenneth French and wounding his parents, a state Department of Justice investigator said. Sanchez said he was knocked to the ground and was momentarily knocked unconscious.

Sanchez told police that the incident started when French, who is developmentally disabled, assaulted him inside the store while he was holding his baby. Sanchez fired his weapon several times inside the store, killing 32-year-old Kenneth French, and wounding his parents, Russell and Paola French. The shooting happened at the Costco on McKinley Avenue on the evening of June 14, 2019. The preliminary hearing will continue later this week. Salvador Sanchez, 32, of Corona is facing charges of manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon.ĭuring the hearing, the prosecution called several witnesses to the shooting for testimony. (KABC) - The former Los Angeles off-duty police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man inside a Costco warehouse in Corona in 2019 had his preliminary hearing Wednesday.

During the hearing, the prosecution called several witnesses to the shooting for testimony.ĬORONA, Calif. police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man inside a Costco warehouse in Corona in 2019 while he was off-duty had his preliminary hearing Wednesday.