Sacramento officers who shot mentally ill man are off force

SACRAMENTO — Both Sacramento officers involved in the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man last year are no longer with the department, police said Wednesday.

Chief Daniel Hahn declined to say whether John Tennis had been fired, but confirmed he is no longer with the department. Tennis had been on paid administrative leave as of Tuesday. The other officer involved in the July 2016 shooting, Randy Lozoya, retired in April, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Prosecutors found Tennis and Lozoya acted legally when they shot Joseph Mann, who had threatened officers and others with a knife. The report said Mann was acting aggressively while under the influence of methamphetamine, and that witnesses thought Mann also had a gun.

The officers shot him more than a dozen times, moments after dashboard video shows that they tried to strike him with their vehicle. Police found a knife but no gun after Mann was killed.

Mann’s shooting set off protests in California’s capital.

An investigation led to several department changes, police announced Wednesday. Among them are increased training and resources to deal with individuals with mental illnesses, updated use of force and discharge of firearms policies and providing officers with less-lethal force options. The department previously announced it would outfit all patrol officers with body cameras and release videos of all officerinvolved shootings and in-custody deaths within 30 days, according to the newspaper.

Mann’s father settled a lawsuit with the city for $719,000. His siblings filed a subsequent lawsuit to find out if Tennis and Lozoya were disciplined and if any departmental changes had been made.