Outrage after teen with autism shot, killed by deputies in California

Demonstrators in San Bernardino County marched to the home of 15-year-old Ryan Gainer who was tragically shot and killed by deputies after they say he charged them with the bladed end of a gardening tool earlier this month.  

The incident unfolded March 9 shortly before 5 p.m. when deputies with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department responded to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance in the 13400 block of Iroquois Road in Apple Valley, according to a department news release.   

Described as a happy kid who was brilliant with numbers, the teen was diagnosed with autism and Crohn’s Disease and had been struggling ever since his mom suffered a stroke and was wheelchair-bound.  

Despite his challenges, his father Norman Gainer, who adopted Ryan at 2 years old, said the teen had flourished as he grew older.  

“I can’t even sleep at night because all I can think about is Ryan,” Norman said to the crowd assembled outside the family’s Apple Valley home. “He did so much. People don’t realize he was teaching kids robotics, he was teaching kids chess. He was a mentor to younger kids.”  

Ryan’s family, their attorneys, members of Disability Rights California and many others attended Thursday’s demonstration. 

“This is the story of two Americas that we need to deal with because Ryan shouldn’t be dead,” DeWitt M. Lacy, an attorney for the family, said.  

The Gainers have filed a lawsuit against the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department alleging that responding deputies did not utilize the proper training.  

“They have that training, but they have to choose to follow it and the folks in charge of them or supervising them have to make sure that they follow it,” DeWitt said. “That’s called accountability and when you don’t have it, we have deaths like this.”  

In the March 9 call to 911 made by the teen’s sister, she can be heard telling emergency dispatch operators that her 15-year-old brother was committing “assault and battery” and that he was banging on the door to the room where she was presumably calling for help from.   

When a deputy arrived at the scene, body-worn camera footage shows the tense moment Ryan charges with what law enforcement officials described as the bladed end of a 5-foot-long gardening tool before he was shot and killed.  

However, the family’s attorneys dispute the description of the gardening tool.

At a news conference about the fatal shooting, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said that since January, deputies had been called out to the home about incidents with Ryan five times.  

“What in my opinion is happening here is that there were plenty of times to offramp Ryan and get him the health and care and mental health care that he needed,” Dicus said. 

It’s unclear if the responding deputies knew about the address history and if they didn’t, attorneys claimed it was a department failure. They also criticized the deputies for not using a less-than-lethal force.  

“Whether we knew, didn’t know, or had the best resources available to us, this is a reactionary time and if we’re looking in the scope of being a human being and what [deputies] are trained for, the deputies followed through with what their training protocols are,” Dicus added.  

Previously, Dicus said that the social safety net for those experiencing mental illness needs to be strengthened and that he sympathized with the teen’s family, as well as “…my deputies who will struggle with this for their entire lives.”