Parents Of Unarmed Teen Shot Dead By Fresno Police File Wrongful Death Suit

New surveillance video has been released documenting the deadly 2017 police shooting of a teenage murder suspect who fled from Fresno police. The video displays a then-16-year-old Isiah Murrietta-Golding climbing a fence and then falling to the ground due to being fatally shot in the back of the head. Now, the teen's parents have decided to sue over their son’s death.

On April 15, 2017, Murrietta-Golding decided to flee from the police after a traffic stop. The teen took eight steps before the officer on the other side of the fence pulled his trigger and lethally shot him.

However, Fresno police authorities argue that there are more details to the case that are not shown in the said footage. The surveillance from one of the officers showed the altercation beginning a minute earlier when a car driven by Murrietta-Golding's brother was stopped at a shopping center. The brothers were suspected of a deadly shooting that took place the day before.

Police had automatically ordered, "Down on your knees!" However, Murrietta-Golding instantly fled. That is when the footage of events unfolded, in which police chased him over a fence and fatally shot the unarmed teen.

Sgt. Ray Villalvazo has been identified as the officer who shot the teenager in the lawsuit. Police stated that Murrietta-Golding was known to be armed. The officer issued his own justifications for his actions stating that during the chase, Murrietta-Golding had reached for his waist multiple times. This caused the officer to fear for his own life.

CBS News reported the police have confirmed that three separate agencies have investigated the case and ruled the shooting as justified. They said, at the time, the teen who was unarmed was suspected of murder. But the family's lawyer said to just look at the tape.

The grieving mother's wrongful death suit claims that during the foot chase, Murrietta-Golding "never threatened any officer" or made "any threatening gestures." It states that Murrietta-Golding’s actions did not result in justification of the use of deadly force.

"You can't say that every time an officer fires a gun it's automatically OK. There has to be a line when you say, this is not acceptable. And this is one of those cases," family attorney Stuart Chandler said.