The morning after a Fullerton policeman fatally shot Hannah Linn Williams, a 17-year-old girl, on Friday night, Anaheim police announced their homicide detectives recovered a “possible handgun” or an “item appearing to be a handgun” from the 91 freeway where the incident occurred within city limits. They also initially referred to Williams as a “suspect” without specifying any crime. Both phrases sparked criticism in the days that followed for a police shooting only growing in controversy by the day.
Tasked with investigating the police shooting, the Orange County District Attorney’s (OCDA) office released a photo of the replica gun on Tuesday it says was found next to the girl and was designed to appear like a Beretta 92 FS pistol.
The agency further stated that a fully uniformed on-duty Fullerton policeman drove a marked SUV eastbound on the 91 freeway on Friday en route to taking his K-9 dog to the veterinarian. That’s when he reportedly observed Williams speeding near the Glassell Avenue exit. At some point, the two vehicles “made physical contact.” The officer shot Williams, who later died at a nearby hospital, around 7 p.m. It remains unclear whether the replica gun factored in the officer’s decision to use deadly force.
California Highway Patrol closed the eastbound 91 freeway for several hours. Aerial footage from news helicopters showed a black SUV that didn’t appear to be badly damaged near a police vehicle.
A legal conclusion from the OCDA on possible criminal charges against the officer is months away, but the Williams family is pushing hard for answers. The OCDA and Anaheim police have declined to name the Anaheim teen citing her age, but Williams’ parents came forward and confirmed that she was the girl shot to death in the incident.
The family also released a photo of the teen to the public while calling the incident something that “appears to be another unjustified shooting of a young person of color” in a released statement. Williams’ father is African American and her mother is Mexican American.
A review by the Weekly of police shootings between 2006 and 2016 revealed that blacks and Latinos are disproportionately shot and killed by OC law enforcement.
Holding a press conference outside Anaheim city hall on Tuesday, the Williams family called on Governor Gavin Newsom to task the California Attorney General’s office with investigating the police shooting. They’re also seeking an independent autopsy.
The controversy comes just weeks after Bob Dunn became Fullerton’s permanent police chief. Before joining the force, Dunn previously served as spokesman for Anaheim PD in 2012 when the city’s downtown exploded in riots over back-to-back controversial police shootings.
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!
keep the heat on these scumbag FPD thugs. they will deflect, stall and destroy evidence until they think people will just forget about their crimes. 99% chance of them lying. where’s the video? at the bottom of Laguna Lake.
#KellyThomas
Who is this cop and why won’t they release his name and bag number .!.!.? Or is it Dunn…but he has to be a K-9 unit so… who’s the dumbass who murderer a child.?.?.? Why are they giving photos of an alleged fake gun to the news and media outlets but not the name of the 5-0, the thin blue line is a big fat problem now.
Bitch after you get all of the information not before. You don’t make sense.
You point a gun, or anything resembling a gun, at a police officer you will be shot. That is a basic fact of life that everyone should be aware of and always has been. It’s unfortunate but where is the responsibility of the parents here in letting their child obtain a replica handgun and drive alone on the freeway? Come on people, you need to start using common sense and put yourself in the shoes of the officer. If you have a weapon and someone points a weapon at you, are you going to let them take the first shot and potentially kill you or are you going to protect yourself? Don’t even try and play the race cared here either, you cannot possibly tell me the officer could tell she was part African American, Mexican American or any other number of ethnicity’s.
we don’t know what happened yet! im sure the fpd will say that’s what happened, but we need to see the bodycam vidio
Sounds suspicious to me. Is she some kind of thug? Probably not. She may have gotten mouthy or flipped him off. Pobresito…I live in Fullerton and my first reflex is to handle the problem myself because I can’t depend on the police for anything. And they scare me. I say the gun is a plant and they are mad scrambling to concoct a story. No confidence.
How do we know FPD didn’t pkant the “replica gun”? Fullerton cops lost all credibility long ago.
So they plant a weapon to justify their actions?! WTF? THIS SOME ROYAL BULLSHIT!
Perhaps because these two groups commit a disproportionate amount of crime. But even that will be someone else’s fault. It’s neber the individual and the decisions they make it’s always society, the rich, the whites, the government, the police…yada yada
Perhaps because these two groups commit a disproportionate amount of crime. But even that will be someone else’s fault. It’s neber the individual and the decisions they make it’s always society, the rich, the whites, the government, the police…yada yada
I think this is bs! This is a child. Why are cops first reaction to shoot someone. And not that I believe everything in this article but if a replica gun was found “near the citing” not pointed at the officer then why pull a gun on her. Smh. Unbelievable. I hope this family gets the Justice they deserve.
Did you not read where she jumped out of her car and pointed the gun at the cop?
The department obviously planted it. They have pulled the same thing with people they beat and arrest by the river and in downtown. A member of my own family was almost gunned down after a neighbor’s call of burglary while she was working as an in-home nurse at a clients house (a client who was home and she had visited over 10 times prior). The same department’s officers laughed it off and said she was lucky.
unless the kid was adopted, the photo above looks:
1) like a 13 year old girl, not a 17 year old girl
2) totally caucasian (not African-American or Latino as the parents stated they were)
Let’s get more facts please…
There is the video. I’m always going to be on the side of the police. If we didn’t have them we’d be living in crime ridden chaos.
Point a gun (fake or real) at a police car, police officer, you might just get dead.
My condolences to the parents who failed at their job. You have my sympathies, but the only people to blame is your childs lack common sense, and your failure to raise your child properly.
I guess now I know why some cops in my family and their coworkers have fake guns. I thought the fake guns they owned were to train or possibly to practice searching people for a gun, but since they train with FPD I guess I know deep down it’s a drop gun.
I had coffee with the Fullerton pigs this morning so I could ask questions…
I believe it’s Miller that killed her…
They are all disgusting!!!!
So, I was walking by the cop shop and a cadet was walking out to his car. I asked him if it was Miller that killed the 17 year old girl? He replied” No, it wasn’t Miller it will come out in the investigation.” I told him I hope your doing the right thing.
He replied “We always do.” I laughed in his face and said NO YOU DON’T, KELLY THOMAS!
Pig says “That was a long time ago.”
BIG MISTAKE, I protested him all the way to his car and told him to get used to it. He was scared…
What a dumb ass!!!
You are a troll swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool.
I know who it is…..and he is a paranoid, aggravated, agitated, sketchy smart ass…… and I remember seeing a video of them pulling a gun out of the back seat and holding up to the camera to see, like a week later at the tow yard. So how was it supposedly next to her ? The Fullerton PD is SO corrupt, I know from personal encounters – they plant evidence and they lie to cover up for each other. The reason the videos aren’t released right away is because they edit them to coincide with their stories. One day we will all watch them fall down like dominos… the domino effect. It’s almost as bad as the Rampart Division.
3) Let’s be honest here. Regardless of race… She looks like she took the short bus.
You should be ashamed of yourself acting like a child no respect that’s what is wrong with America