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Parents of man shot to death by off-duty officer in Corona Costco to speak publicly Monday

by in News

The parents of the developmentally disabled man shot to death June 14 in the Costco in Corona will speak publicly for the first time about the incident on Monday, Aug. 26, their attorney said Friday.

Russell and Paola French will discuss at a news conference in Corona the shooting, their recovery from their own injuries and their belief that the off-duty officer who used deadly force should be prosecuted, a news release from Woodland Hills-based attorney Dale K. Galipo said.

Kenneth French’s brother, Kevin, is also expected to attend the news conference, Galipo said.

The attorney also said he planned to file a claim against the city of Los Angeles and Officer Salvador Sanchez. Such claims are legally required precursors to lawsuits. Galipo’s office said it will make that claim public Monday.

Meanwhile, there was “no update” on whether the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office planned to file charges, spokesman John Hall said Friday.

“The family believes there’s enough evidence to criminally prosecute but realize it’s not their decision,” Galipo said in a text message Friday.

Kenneth French, 32, died from his injuries in the shooting about 7:45 p.m. inside the warehouse store at 480 N. McKinley St. His parents were seriously injured and are continuing their recoveries.

A surveillance video exists that reportedly shows the encounter near the deli area.  However, a Riverside County judge issued an order that keeps the video out of the public eye for one year because of the investigation. Galipo on Friday called on authorities to release the video publicly.

Galipo has previously said that French was a mentally disabled man who pushed or struck Sanchez, but he added that the family “believes that the shooting was excessive and completely unjustified because Mr. (Kenneth) French was unarmed and posed no immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to anyone.”

Galipo’s release Friday said Sanchez provided no warning that he was going to use deadly force and that the parents were shot in the back as they tried to de-escalate the situation.

David Winslow, an attorney for Sanchez, has said the shooting happened after the officer was “without warning or provocation…violently attacked from behind” as the officer was holding his 1½-year-old son in his arms.

Both the officer and the boy were knocked to the floor and the officer was momentarily unconscious, Winslow said in a statement. He said the officer was “unprotected and had no other option to defend himself and his son from further deadly attack. He was in fear for his son’s life. He believed he was under attack. That’s when the shooting started.”

The Corona Police Department has said that Sanchez was attacked “without provocation.”

Rick Shureih, a relative of Kenneth French, has said his cousin was “non-violent, non-aggressive, non-verbal.“