Los Angeles, United States:

Newly released video shows US police shooting dead a kidnapped teenage girl they had been tasked with rescuing, in a chaotic incident on a busy California highway.

Savannah Graziano, 15, was gunned down as one deputy called her away from her gun-toting father, who had killed her mother a day earlier and abducted his daughter.

The episode unfolded in September 2022 when officers in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles, began chasing the vehicle Anthony Graziano was driving with Savannah in the passenger seat.

Footage filmed by a California Highway Patrol helicopter and released on Friday shows the pickup truck racing along at upwards of 110 miles (175 kilometers) an hour, with multiple shots fired at officers from inside Graziano’s vehicle.

The chase ended after Graziano went the wrong way up a freeway entrance ramp and came to a halt on scrubland, surrounded by police vehicles.

Footage released Friday shows Savannah getting out of the car and walking towards an officer, who can be heard on another recording calling her over.

Radio traffic apparently from the helicopter warns officers that Savannah is there.

“The girl’s out. The girl’s out. Alright, girl’s out, guys. The female… is out. She’s out on the passenger side,” a male voice says.

The footage shows Savannah crouching on the ground for several seconds before getting up and walking towards a group of police officers.

An apparent gunshot is heard on the video and Savannah is then blurred out as the voice on the radio says “Oh no.”

Audio captured by a microphone worn by an officer on the ground records him calling Savannah over.

“Come to me! Come, come, come… walk, walk, walk,” he says, as heavy gunfire rings out.

“Hey! Stop! Stop shooting her,” he tells his colleagues. “He’s in the car!”

A number of shots can be heard after this utterance.

The narration on the video, which was released by San Bernardino County Sheriff Coroner, describes this moment.

“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 teenager was declared dead in a local hospital.

Her father was pronounced dead at the scene. Multiple weapons and items of body armor were found in the pickup, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, police said.

The names of officers involved have not been released.

The incident is being investigated by California’s Department of Justice (DOJ).

San Bernardino Sheriff Shannon Dicus said Tuesday his department had been transparent in the aftermath of the incident.

“My hope is that this video will be watched in its entirety and provide insight into the unfortunate events that unfolded that day,” he said.

“I would ask the public to allow the DOJ to complete its independent investigation before reaching a conclusion.”

The video was released just weeks after deputies from the same sheriff’s department shot dead a 15-year-old autistic boy who was having a mental health episode.

Both incidents have highlighted police use of force.

Violent encounters involving the public and police are not uncommon in the United States.

A tally by the Washington Post newspaper shows more than 1,100 people have been shot dead by officers nationwide in the last 12 months.

The figures are not official as police departments are not required to report incidents to the federal government.

Firearms claim tens of thousands of lives every year in the United States, a country where there are more guns than people.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Signage proclaiming the “Corporal Ronil Singh Memorial Highway” stands at Highway 33 and Stuhr Road.
| Photo Credit: PTI

To honour a fallen national hero, a stretch of a highway in the US state of California has been named after 33-year-old Indian-origin police officer Ronil Singh who was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant in 2018.

The stretch of Highway 33 in Newman was dedicated on Saturday to Mr. Singh from the Newman Police Department, the Modesto Bee newspaper reported.

Signage proclaiming the “Corporal Ronil Singh Memorial Highway” stands at Highway 33 and Stuhr Road.

Mr. Singh, a native of Fiji joined the force in July 2011. A suspected drunk driver fatally shot him on December 26, 2018. A three-day manhunt led to his killer, Paulo Virgen Mendoza, being apprehended at a relative’s house in Kern County. He pleaded guilty in November 2020 to Singh’s murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A ceremony to unveil the sign was held following the community’s Tunnel to Towers 5K walk and run.

Mr. Singh’s wife, Anamika, their son, Arnav, who was just 5 months old when his father was killed, and other family members were at the event.

They were joined by his Newman Police Department colleagues and officials including county Supervisor Channce Condit, state Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil, US Representative John Duarte and Assemblyman Juan Alanis.

Messages written on the back of the sign included Arnav’s, which reads “Love you Papa.” “Today the community came together to honour the memory of Cpl. Ronil Singh, who was tragically killed in the line of duty in December 2018. The memorial highway sign was unveiled today and will be displayed on Highway 33 and Stuhr Road,” Alanis posted on X.

“I was honoured to pay my respects to my former law enforcement colleague, and may his memory live on forever,” he said.

The California Department of Transportation also posted on X, “Today, #Caltrans joined the community members, friends and family of Cpl. Ronil Singh to dedicate a highway memorial in his name on State Route 33 through the @cityofNewman.

In September 2019, the Assembly Transportation Committee passed a resolution for the Corporal Ronil Singh Memorial Highway in western Stanislaus and Merced counties. But the report added that naming a stretch of Highway 33 near Newman in honour of Singh later stalled.

The effort was reignited when Condit approached state Alvarado-Gil about the memorial after she was elected in November 2022 and sworn into office. Condit told her more action was required to designate the memorial highway, and her office went to work with Caltrans to choose the location for the memorial highway section, it said.

In 2019, former US President Donald Trump described Singh as a “national hero.” He also spoke with the family members and law enforcement colleagues of Singh and said America’s heart broke the day the young officer was “savagely murdered” in cold blood by an “illegal alien”.