Vallejo proceeds with firing Det. Jarrett Tonn for killing Sean Monterrosa

VALLEJO – The Vallejo Police Department will proceed with the termination of Det. Jarrett Tonn for killing Sean Monterrosa in 2020, despite the findings of a mandatory review hearing that the termination should be overturned because the department waited too long to act.

An announcement by Vallejo police late Monday did not name Tonn, citing a court order forbidding the city from naming the officer, despite that his name has been widely known since shortly after the June 2, 2020, fatal shooting.

Tonn will likely appeal the decision to arbitration. An attorney for Tonn did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A criminal investigation into the shooting by the state Attorney General's Office is ongoing.

Tonn killed Monterrosa when he fired five times through the windshield of an unmarked pickup truck as he and two other officers were driving into a Walgreens parking lot responding to looting in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Tonn said that he saw Monterrosa turn around and point a gun, but Monterrosa had only a hammer in the pocket of his hoodie.

An outside investigation by the OIR Group concluded last year that Tonn violated department policy when he killed Monterrosa because the use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable, that Tonn had failed to deescalate the situation and because he did not turn on his body-worn camera before the shooting. Based on the investigation’s findings, Vallejo police Chief Shawny Williams issued Tonn a notice of termination.

Public employees in California are entitled to a mandatory review hearing called a Skelly hearing, in which they can hear the evidence against them and respond. Following Tonn’s hearing in April, hearing officer Marc Fox recommended that Tonn’s termination be overturned, saying he found the level of discipline “excessive.”

In particular, Fox raised doubts that Tonn had violated the use of force policies in part because of Williams’ statements in the days after the shooting justifying it, because Williams did not bring up the shooting at Tonn's performance evaluation later that year, and because Williams waited more than a year before placing Tonn on administrative leave.

Tonn “should receive corrective action which is the same or [substantially] similar to that received by other employees,” Fox wrote in his May 10 report. Two other officers present during the fatal shooting left the department before they were disciplined. A third received a letter of reprimand.

In a statement posted to Instagram, Monteross's sisters, Ashley and Michelle Monterrosa, said, "we are grateful for this administrative step."

"However, the investigation also unearthed evidence of serious crimes committed by Tonn and fellow officers in an attempted cover up Sean Monterrosa’s murder," the sisters wrote. "After two years we continue to demand that the California DOJ under the leadership of Rob Bonta take immediate action to prosecute and hold the responsible Vallejo officers accountable for their crimes."

On Tuesday, the Vallejo Police Officers Association released a statement criticizing Williams for disregarding the Skelly officer's findings and pointing out that the chief allowed the officers to go back to work after the shooting.

"We disappointed that Chief Williams again failed to follow the neutral third party Skelly officer recommendation and unilaterally decided to terminate our member," the statement said. "We are confident this egregious political move will be overturned in arbitration."

The city demurred on whether to fire Tonn for nearly five months and sought to conceal the Skelly officer’s findings until making its decision. The Vallejo Sun sued the department for the document and eventually obtained it through other means.

Tonn will likely appeal the decision to arbitration, and the Skelly officer’s findings make victory for the city extremely difficult. In April, an arbitrator ordered the reinstatement of fired Lt. Herman Robinson with back pay after Robinson lost his Skelly hearing.

Editor's note: this story has been updated to include comments from Ashley and Michelle Monterrosa and the Vallejo Police Officers Association.