On Tuesday, protestors took to the streets in response to District Attorney Jill Ravitch's Monday announcement that Deputy Erick Gelhaus, who shot and killed 13-year-old Andy Lopez thinking his toy gun was an assault rifle, won't be charged.

According to Associated Press, there were dozens of protestors outside of the Sonoma County District Attorney's office yesterday. They chanted things like "Justice for Andy Lopez" and "We say homicide, Ravitch says justified," "Jailhouse for Gelhaus" and "Hey, hey, ho, ho, these killer cops have got to go," according to CBS San Francisco. Demonstrators also wore T-shirts featuring pictures of Lopez. The protest lasted 90 minutes, the local news affiliate reports.

The shooting happened on Oct. 22 as Lopez was walking by his house in Santa Rosa carrying a pellet gun. At a news conference, Ravitch said Gelhaus shot multiple rounds at the teenager because he thought his life was in danger due to the toy's similar appearance to a weapon.

Ravitch's report stated that an autopsy revealed Lopez to have smoked marijuana about an hour before the incident, and a medical expert said this probably affected his judgment.

Jonathan Melrod, an attorney and member of activist group Justice for Andy Lopez, said that Ravitch's 52-page-long report "was written as if Ravitch was the defense counsel for Gelhaus."

"It was a whitewash to justify murder," he told CBS San Francisco. "There was erratic behavior on Oct. 22, and it was by Erick Gelhaus."

"This is like killing him again," Nicole Guerra, a protestor, told KTVU.

Lopez's hometown has about 170,000 people and is mostly Latino, according to AP. The city was already under racial tension, and Lopez's death led to various demonstrations against police brutality.

"Jill Ravitch essentially shirked her responsibility and provided all excuses possible for someone like Erick Gelhaus to get away with indiscriminate murder," Ramon Cairo, a Santa Rosa resident and protestor, told AP.

Another protest is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. in downtown Santa Rosa.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar

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