Family Of Andres Guardado Are Asking For The Autopsy Report Be Released
Update July 8, 2020, 11:15 a.m. PST: The family of Andrés Guardado has received an independent autopsy report in the young man’s death. After weeks of demanding answers, the report ordered by the family found that Guardado died from multiple gun wounds to the back.
An independent autopsy reports that Andrés Guardado died after being shot in the back.
The report found that Guardado was shot five times in the back by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy Miguel Vega, according to the LA Times. The family was compelled to pay for their own independent autopsy because a “security hold” was placed o the official autopsy from the LA Country Coroner.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, according to the LA Times and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department officials are not commenting on the progress. However, Sheriff’s Lt. Charles Calderaro told the LA Times that the “security hold” on the official autopsy would be lifted in the coming weeks.
“I know there’s people that want answers, but when you conduct a thorough investigation sometimes you need to protect the integrity of future statements you might be getting,” Sheriff’s Lt. Charles Calderaro told the LA Times.
Update: On June 18, Andrés Guardado was shot and killed by officers of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. The 18-year-old was working as a security guard at an auto mechanic shop when he was killed. Two weeks later, the family is demanding the autopsy report.
It’s been two weeks since Andrés Guardado was killed by LASD officers and the autopsy still hasn’t been released.
Guardado was working as a security guard for an auto repair shop when he was shot and killed by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. The death sparked protests in southern California demanding justice.
“He told me he was going to come back home and eat some tacos dorados, but he never came back home. My family and my community feel destroyed because we still don’t know anything. We don’t know what happened with my son,” said Elisa Guardado, Andrés’s mother, in Spanish during a press conference.
The family is demanding the release of Andrés’s autopsy, which has recently been delayed. A security hold was placed on the autopsy just two days after the head of the homicide bureau, Capt. Kent Wegener, said the autopsy would be released to the public. It’s been about a week and the family demands to see the autopsy for closure and to know what happened to their loved one.
Original: Friends and family are demanding answers after an 18-year-old boy was shot and killed by a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy. The man, identified at Andrés Guardado, was working as a security guard when he was shot and killed by an LASD deputy. The killing has set off protests and national outrage.
Andrés Guardado was killed by a Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputy and the community is demanding answers.
According to reports, Guardado was working as a security guard in Gardena, California when LASD officers drove by. The officers claim that Guardado was not wearing a security guard uniform when they drove by the auto repair shop and that he had a gun.
His death is sparking outrage in California because it is another example of police brutality. Protesters have taken to the streets in major cities demonstrating for weeks. The protesters are demanding severe police reform to save the lives of Black and brown people killed by the police.
The nation is taking notice and demanding some action to bring justice.
Those who knew Guardado are casting a lot of doubt on the story being pushed by the police. The case has drawn the attention of national and local politicians demanding something to be done to fully investigate Guardado’s death.
“Another day and another Black or Brown kid has been shot in the back by police,” Reps. Nanette Diaz Barragán and Maxine Waters, both from Los Angeles, said in a joint statement. “These killings must stop. We demand it. The American people demand it.”
Videos of the store owner sharing what happened are circulating on social media.
According to the shop owner, the sheriffs came to the shop and took the tapes and recording equipment with the footage. This was done before a warrant was issued for the equipment. In the video, the shop owner shows the damage done to the cameras.
The shop owner claims that the officers were not wearing body cameras. Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva acknowledged the importance of all officers wearing body cameras.
The story from the police and the story from the shop owner and family are very different.
The discrepancies have led to protests against the police adding to the growing unrest from Americans against police brutality. States and cities across the country have started to take steps to wrangle in the numerous police departments.
“I firmly believe that an immediate and independent investigation must be conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) into this matter, and I urge the Sheriff’s Department to immediately and fully cooperate with this OIG independent investigation,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said in a statement.
People are protesting to demand justice for Guardado.
As more and more people join in the fight to radically reform the police, the country gets closer to ending over-policing. Guardado is not the first and won’t be the last questionable killing of a person of color by police in the U.S. Rest in peace, Andres.
