New San Bernardino County Sheriff’s video shows shootout that killed teen

New video released Monday by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department shows the September 2022 desert shootout that killed a 15-year-old girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert.

The shootout occurred Sept. 28, 2024, a day after an Amber Alert was issued for 15-year-old Savannah Graziano. The teen was in her father’s pickup when he shot and killed her mother outside a school in Fontana, setting off a search for Anthony Graziano and his daughter.

Tracy Martinez was able to identify her killer to authorities before she died.

Savannah and her father were both killed a day later after a chase on desert highways east of Los Angeles.

The chase began after a clerk at a gas station called to report a sighting of Savannah. Deputies encountered the pickup near Barstow and the chase reached speeds of more than 100 mph before continuing on the 15 Freeway into Hesperia on the 15 Freeway. Hesperia is about 35 miles north of the scene of the fatal shooting of Martinez.

Shots were fired at the pursuing officers from Graziano’s pickup truck, which became disabled after he drove off the highway. Several rounds pierced a patrol car’s windshield.

Graziano died in the truck during the ensuing shootout. Savannah, who authorities said was wearing tactical gear and a helmet, was fatally shot as she moved toward deputies during the barrage of gunfire.

“At the conclusion of the pursuit, there was an extensive exchange of gunfire,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement released with the video Monday. “Both Graziano and Savannah were struck by deputy rounds and died of their injuries.”

The video released this week includes footage from a law enforcement department helicopter and dashcam. Audio from a deputy’s belt recording captured the sound of the deputy shouting to Savannah and other deputies, the sheriff’s department said.

Video from the helicopter appears to show Savannah kneeling on the ground before moving toward the deputy as he called out to her. The sounds of gunfire also are captured on the recording.

“You can hear him calling her over and telling other deputies that the person who exited the truck was the passenger and for them to stop firing, but it was too late,” the sheriff’s department said in its statement. “Deputies immediately began medical aid on Savannah and she was transported to the hospital where, tragically, she died of her injuries.”

Anthony Graziano died at the scene.

Investigators later searched the family’s Fontana home, which Graziano and his daughter moved out of a few weeks earlier, and Graziano’s storage unit. Inside the storage pod they found AR-15-style rifles, handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, smoke grenades and other tactical gear, according to authorities.

NBCLA has reached out to Savannah’s family and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for comments. The case remains under investigation by the state attorney’s general office that requires an investigation into all fatal shootings involving law enforcement.