WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is letting the family of a California teenager who was fatally shot while holding a pellet gun go forward with a lawsuit against authorities.
The Supreme Court declined this week to get involved in the case, leaving in place lower court decisions in favor of 13-year-old Andy Lopez’s family.
Lopez was fatally shot by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy Erick Gelhaus on Oct. 22, 2013. Gelhaus saw Lopez carrying what appeared to be an AK-47 but was actually a plastic pellet gun made to look like an AK-47.
A federal trial court and an appeals court let the lawsuit go forward.
Lawyers for the county and the deputy argued the suit should be tossed because they were immune from being sued.
- Posted June 28, 2018
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Supreme Court lets family sue deputy

headlines Macomb
headlines National
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Judge accused of using ‘game or jail’ tactic, asserting abuse victims get ‘Super Bowl’ neurochemicals
- Prosecutor gets suspension for invading jury’s ‘inner sanctum’
- Lateral hiring bounced back in 2024, especially for associates in BigLaw, new NALP report says
- Refugee ban can’t be enforced against those who received conditional approval, 9th Circuit says
- ABA, more than 50 bar associations condemn ‘government actions that seek to twist the scales of justice’