Andrew Andy Lopez was 13 when he was fatally shot on October 22, 2013, in the Moorland Avenue neighborhood of Santa Rosa, California. He had been walking through a vacant lot carrying an airsoft gun that resembled an AK-47; the orange tip that would have identified it as a toy had been broken off. Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy Erick Gelhaus, patrolling with another deputy, mistook the airsoft gun for a real firearm and fired, killing Lopez.

The shooting prompted large protests across Santa Rosa and elsewhere in California, and the Lopez family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sonoma County and Deputy Gelhaus on November 4, 2013, alleging excessive force. On July 7, 2014, District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced no criminal charges would be filed. The FBI similarly concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove a civil rights violation. The family’s civil suit was later settled in July 2015 with Sonoma County agreeing to pay $3 million.

What details from that day or this neighborhood might help explain how the encounter unfolded?