Six years after her brother Sean Monterrosa was fatally shot by a Vallejo police officer, Michelle Monterrosa says she has little trust in politicians charged with delivering justice — including one who is seeking California’s highest office.

There are others to blame: the cop who pulled the trigger on June 2, 2020, and officials in the police department she holds responsible for the loss of critical evidence. But Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general and secretary of health and human services in the Biden administration, is near the top of her list.  

Now, as Becerra has earned front-runner status in his bid for California governor, her remarks to The Standard draw fresh scrutiny on his decision to launch a broad departmental review (opens in new tab) of the Vallejo Police Department rather than open an independent investigation into the shooting.

Monterrosa said she will not be voting for him.

“How can we trust someone who continues to put his own advancement before actually standing with the people?” she said. “There are so many career politicians who say their talking points to sound like they’re doing something, when in reality it’s a slap in the face to working-class people.”

It was a case that cost the city of Vallejo $8.5 million to settle last month. Sean Monterrosa, 22, who lived in San Francisco, was shot in the back of the head by Det. Jarrett Tonn after Vallejo officers responded to a call regarding looting at a Walgreens.

The 2020 shooting occurred amid nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd. Tonn fired from the back seat of an unmarked truck and through its windshield; he later claimed he believed Monterrosa was reaching for a gun. The object in Monterrosa’s sweatshirt pocket turned out to be a hammer.

Three days after the shooting, Becerra, the state attorney general at the time, announced an agreement to help the Vallejo Police Department reform its policies and practices — but stopped short of opening an independent investigation into Monterrosa’s killing.

After Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams recused herself from the case, the Monterrosa family called on Becerra and Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint a special prosecutor. Becerra and the California Department of Justice declined to investigate the shooting.

Soon after, the public learned that the windshield through which Tonn had fired — a critical piece of physical evidence — had been destroyed. A civilian drone that captured video of the killing in its entirety was seized by Vallejo police the night of the shooting, and the video file had been overwritten by the time the device reached investigators, according to a forensics expert with the U.S. Secret Service.

Becerra subsequently launched a criminal investigation, narrowly scoped to the destruction of evidence rather than the shooting itself. But Michelle Monterrosa, who is a master’s degree student in ethnic studies at San Francisco State University, said the probe lacked meaningful follow-through.

“It had no teeth,” she said. “And then he reaches out to people organizing with us to say he’ll try to have a meeting with them — the day before he knew he was going to get appointed to the Biden-Harris Cabinet.”

She added, “You only get a reach-out when it’s beneficial to their agenda.”

Although Monterrosa is critical of Becerra’s handling of her brother’s killing, she has words for all the gubernatorial candidates. 

“The candidates that are running — they have not, from what I’ve known, reached out to any impacted families who have been harmed by this state through law enforcement agencies,” she said. “I think that’s one of the things that often happens: We have a political moment where people care, and then six years, five years, post-George Floyd can pass by, and people kind of forget that this is still happening.”

Becerra’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Becerra departed for Washington for his role as secretary of health and human services in early 2021, before either inquiry was resolved. 

Becerra’s reform agreement lapsed in June 2023, far short of its goals, leading his successor as attorney general, Rob Bonta, to escalate to a full pattern-and-practice lawsuit.

Tonn was never criminally charged, and an arbitrator reinstated him with back pay. Vallejo in March agreed to pay the Monterrosa family $8.5 million — its largest civil rights settlement in at least 20 years — to resolve a federal lawsuit.

Monterrosa’s withering assessment comes amid increasing scrutiny of Becerra. Recent polls have placed him among the front-runners in the state’s crowded June primary for governor.

His rise, following the withdrawal of former Rep. Eric Swalwell amid allegations of sexual misconduct, has drawn fire from fellow candidates Tom Steyer, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and former Rep. Katie Porter, who have challenged him on healthcare, fiscal accountability, and his record in office. 

For criminal justice advocates, the criticisms run deeper and predate the campaign. During his tenure as attorney general, Becerra received more than $75,000 from law enforcement unions and was repeatedly at odds with efforts to increase police transparency — a notable exception to the progressive image he publicly cultivated.

After state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1421, opening police misconduct records to public inspection, Becerra’s office attempted to claw back records that had already been provided to journalists, threatening UC Berkeley reporters with prosecution for possessing documents his own agency had sent them. The ACLU of Northern California accused him of refusing to follow the law he was sworn to uphold, saying families had waited years for access to investigations into the killings of loved ones.

Following the settlement with the city of Vallejo, the Monterrosa family issued a statement. “The loss of Sean will forever be with our family, and no settlement can ease our pain. We have always viewed this process as a vehicle for change in the Vallejo community, and we are encouraged by the immediate changes that have been put into place within the Vallejo Police Department. These reforms were sorely needed, and the fact that there have not been any police shootings by Vallejo PD since Sean’s death shows that they are working.”

Michelle Monterrosa cofounded the Sean Monterrosa Project (opens in new tab) alongside her sister Ashley, who serves on the board of the California Endowment, overseeing $4 billion in healthcare investment statewide.

The Sean Monterrosa Project maintains a mural at 24th and Valencia streets in the Mission and secured a street renaming in the neighborhood where Sean grew up — the city’s first such recognition for someone killed by law enforcement.

“Uplifting our brother’s life and legacy is no small feat,” she said. “But we know there’s still a lot left to do.”