Family of teen security guard shot dead by LA sheriff's deputy demand cops release coroner's report as their independent autopsy finds he was 'unjustifiably' shot in the back five times
An 18-year-old security guard who was shot and killed by police while he guarded an auto shop last month, died after cops fired five bullets into his back with a wound to his trunk ultimately taking his life.
The family of Andres Guardado ordered an independent autopsy following his killing at the hands of Gardena, California Sheriff's Deputy Miguel Vega.
The LA County Sheriff's Department had requested a 'security hold' on the LA County Coroner's findings but his family said Wednesday that preliminary findings from an independent autopsy 'confirm what we have known all along'.
'Andres was unjustifiably killed by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy,' they said in a statement.
An attorney for the family of Andres Guardado, 18, has called on the LA Sheriff's Department to release a coroner's report that is in 'security hold'. An independent autopsy found he was shot in the back five times and the fatal wound was in his trunk
He sustained a graze to his left forearm with a forward trajectory, the preliminary results state
The family lawyer also revealed that Guardado sustained a graze to his left forearm with a forward trajectory.
Preliminary forensic toxicology also revealed that the teenager didn't have any drugs or alcohol in his system.
Attorney Adam Shea did not release the full report. Shea did release an image showing the five bullet wounds in Guardado's back, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Shea has called for the LA County Coroner's report to be released from 'security hold' as he too claimed that killing was 'the result of unjustified police violence against an innocent young man.'
'Andres was a good boy, he was our son and he had so much life ahead of him. Our son did not deserve to die this way,' Cristobal and Elisa Guardado said in the statement.
Police say Guardado was shot when he fled from an auto repair shop after he 'produced a handgun'.
Guardado's sister, Jennifer Guardado (above) has urged officials to further examine the circumstances leading up to her sibling's death in Gardena last month
According to the sheriff's department, officers were on a routine patrol when they approached Guardado and saw he had a gun.
Guardado's weapon was an unregistered, illegal hunting device, it said.
Andres Guardado, 18 (pictured), from Los Gardena, California, was shot and killed by deputies at around 6pm on June 18 outside the autobody shop where he was employed
No video footage of the June 18 incident has emerged.
The killing of Guardado - whose heritage is Salvadoran - prompted more protests amid country-wide demonstrations against police brutality.
The Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission and its investigative arm, the Office of Inspector General, told the Los Angeles Times that the sheriff's department refused to hand over vital documents they asked for last month.
Inspector General Max Huntsman told the Times that his office had called on the department to hand over reports, documents and video relating to the shooting death of Guardado.
He said that the documents have not yet been received.
'We're not gonna piecemeal it,' Sheriff Villanueva said, stating that he would supply information when it was possible.
'If you're still interviewing witnesses, you don't release information that's gonna prejudice the testimony of the witness,' he said, adding that a 'security hold' had been placed on the results of Guardado's autopsy as a result of the witness interviews.
A protester holds a placard with a portrait of Andres Guardado during a Black Lives Matter protest outside the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles, California on June 24
