Nicole Guerra’s daughter, Isabella Rose, was only two when she died.
So the day she paid her condolences to the parents of Andy Lopez—the 13-year-old Santa Rosa boy, who was shot and killed by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy nine months ago while holding a replica air-soft AK-47—she did so with painful sincerity.
“That day I went to Sujay and Rodrigo, and I told them, ‘I know the feeling. I know the pain. I know the loss,’” Guerra said. Lopez had been her son Tony’s best friend since they were six.
On July 12, Guerra helped organize dozens of supporters and organizations in downtown Santa Rosa to protest Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch’s July 7 decision not to pursue criminal charges against deputy Erik Gelhaus. Gelhaus, a range master and firearms instructor, mistook the toy gun that Lopez was carrying for an actual assault rifle and reacted by firing eight shots, seven of which hit Lopez.
A formal investigation concluded that Gelhaus shot Lopez “in response to what he honestly and reasonably believed was an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to himself,” and that he was “lawfully acting in defense of himself.”
Roughly 100 people—many holding signs that read “Fire Gelhaus” and “RIP Andy”— gathered around 1 p.m. at Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa to voice over loudspeaker their outrage at Ravitch’s decision.
Guerra, an organizer with Andy’s Youth, a group of Sonoma County students, alleged to the crowd that local law enforcement had harassed and “beat up” members of her group after attending a previous recent rally, saying some of the kids suffered “bruises and sprains.”
“They think their badge gives them the power to hurt our children,” Guerra said.
Still, despite being upset with the district attorney for not filing criminal charges, many in the crowd weren’t surprised.
“We kind of expected it wasn’t going to be good,” said protester Terri Carrion, who, on a makeshift coffin, wrote the names of the 64 people killed by law enforcement in Sonoma County since 2000 (Lopez was number 58). “But we had that little bit of hope where we thought [Ravitch] might make some gesture of goodness … not necessarily for murder. But it’s like a slap in the face.”
Carla Ortiz, 15, who had attended elementary school with Lopez, felt the same.
“I wanted justice, but it’s obvious,” she said. “No matter what, the cops are going to win.”
Hours into the protest, demonstrators marched down to the corner of E and Fourth streets to demonstrate a “die-in,” stopping traffic, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department. The demonstrators later stopped traffic on the northbound Highway 101 downtown Santa Rosa exit.