Former LAPD cop charged with manslaughter in fatal Costco shooting

A former Los Angeles police officer has been charged in connection with a shoot 2019 inside a Costco in the city of Corona, Calif., where a mentally ill man was killed and his parents were seriously injured, reports CBS Los Angeles.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday that Salvador Sanchez, a seven-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, has been charged with one count of intentional homicide and two counts of assault with a gun. semi-automatic fist. He was taken into custody Monday morning in Riverside County.

On the night of June 14, 2019, Kenneth French, 32, of Riverside and his parents, Russell and Paola, were shot dead by on leave LAPD officer Salvador Sanchez while queuing up at a sampling station from Costco.

Kenneth, who was described by his family’s lawyer as schizophrenic and non-verbal, was killed. His parents were seriously injured but survived. Both were shot in the back.

In September 2019, a Riverside County grand jury refused to lay criminal charges in the case, a move that sparked major protests at the time, according to CBS LA.

Grainy surveillance footage appeared to show a physical altercation between French and Sanchez before the shooting. Sanchez, who was holding his 18-month-old son, fired 10 bullets with a handgun. In March 2021, Corona Police released body camera footage of their officers responding to the scene. In the footage, Sanchez tells police he opened fire after believing he himself had been shot.

The shooting created chaos in the store, sending shoppers rushing to the exits. Corona police initially responded to reports of an active shooter.

The Los Angeles Police Commission later determined that Sanchez acted outside the policy of the department.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.