Santa Rosa vigil marks anniversary of Andy Lopez shooting (w/video)

A community potluck and prayer service marking the one-year anniversary of Andy Lopez’s death drew about 200 people Wednesday evening to the southwest Santa Rosa field where the 13-year-old was shot and killed by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy.

The setting sun turned the overcast sky above the vacant lot at Moorland and West Robles avenues a deep red as people ate homemade enchiladas and remembered Lopez, whose death reverberated well beyond his mostly working class and Latino neighborhood.

However, people offered differing opinions about how much really has changed.

“It’s sad. It’s been a year, but our community doesn’t feel like anything has been done about it,” said Dulce Montdragon, 20, as she put tortillas into a vat of hot oil.

A year ago Wednesday, Lopez was walking on the sidewalk carrying an airsoft BB gun designed to look like an AK-47 assault rifle when the teen was shot by Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus. The deputy told investigators that he mistook the BB gun for a real rifle, and that he called out for the boy to drop the gun, but that Lopez turned toward him with the gun in his hand.

Many in attendance Wednesday said the passage of 12 months had not diminished their sorrow over the teen’s death, nor their anger at Gelhaus, who they say should have been punished for his actions.

The deputy was cleared of any wrongdoing by Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch and a Sheriff’s Office internal investigation found he did not violate department policy. But that has failed to mollify critics.

“It’s in the face of all these people,” Daniel Harrington, a Santa Rosa Junior College student, said Wednesday.

The event drew a mix of young people, community activists and neighborhood residents. An Aztec prayer dance in honor of Lopez followed dinner.

Rodrigo and Sujey Lopez helped spruce up the park Saturday but did not attend Wednesday’s event honoring their son. In a statement attributed to Sujey Lopez and read at the memorial, she blistered Gelhaus, calling him a “murderer, mentally ill and diabolical psychopath.”

In the statement, which also appeared on the Justice for Andy Lopez Facebook page, Sujey Lopez wrote that “the same bullets that killed her son managed to pierce her soul, leaving her the walking dead.”

Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo, who attended the event, said “certainly there’s still pain and emotion” surrounding Lopez’s death.

Carrillo would not say whether he supports calls for Gelhaus’ removal from his patrol duties, saying “that’s a sheriff’s decision.”

Carrillo said he’s “encouraged” by the progress that’s been made since the teen’s death, citing efforts to turn the vacant field into a park and a new law that will impose the strictest regulations on BB guns and toy or replica weapons in the nation when it takes effect in California in 2016.

“Where we still have more work to do is with community policing and ensuring that people feel they are being listened to by local authorities,” Carrillo said.

Some activists at the service said that’s not enough.

“We’re not going to be simply satisfied with the acquisition of parks or new task force rules and recommendations,” said Michael Rothenberg, a Guerneville resident and member of the Justice Coalition for Andy Lopez. “We want justice.”

Taylor Anderson-Stevenson, who works for the Women’s Justice Center, said there’s been “no change” since Lopez’s death.

“The murderer,” she said, in reference to Gelhaus, “is still on the street.”

The memorial service capped a full day of events honoring Lopez.

At Sonoma State University, students met at noon in front of the library for a rally with speakers from the faculty and student body.

In Sacramento, a contingent of local activists converged at the state Capitol, joining people from across California to protest police brutality and jail practices. Similar protests were planned Wednesday in dozens of cities across the United States.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.