Parents sue California deputy who shot boy carrying toy assault rifle

The parents of a 13-year-old California boy killed last month while carrying a plastic replica of an assault rifle filed a civil rights lawsuit on Monday against the sheriff’s deputy who shot him, their attorney said. Deputy Erick Gelhaus, 48, shot Andy Lopez Cruz as the eighth grader was walking near his home in the wine-country town of Santa Rosa carrying an imitation gun he planned to return to a friend, relatives and officials have said. The shooting, by a veteran deputy and firearms instructor, has sparked almost daily protests in California, and the FBI has launched an independent investigation into the October 22 incident. On Monday, attorney Arnoldo Casillas filed the federal lawsuit against Gelhaus and Sonoma County in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on behalf of the boy’s parents. The suit seeks unspecified damages and alleges the deputy violated the teen’s civil rights.