Former LAPD officer who fatally shot a man in Costco earlier this year has been charged with manslaughter

• A former LAPD officer was arrested and charged with manslaughter on Monday.
• Salvador Sanchez was recorded opening fire on a man in a California Costco in June 2019.

A former Los Angeles Police Department officer accused of killing a man inside a California Costco has been charged with manslaughter and assault with a semiautomatic firearm, according to a criminal complaint.

Salvador Sanchez was arrested in Riverside County on Monday on the charges stemming from the June 2019 shooting.

Sanchez, who was off duty at the time, was recorded on police body camera video obtained by KNBC, saying that he fired at 32-year-old Kenneth French. Sanchez was recorded saying he thought French had a gun in his hand and had shot at him first.

Police later determined that French did not have a weapon.

French's parents, Russell and Paola, were also wounded in the shooting.

Spectrum News 1 reported that French's parents said they pleaded with Sanchez not to shoot and told him that French had schizophrenia and was non-verbal. They added that they were backing away from Sanchez when he opened fire.

Surveillance footage obtained by KNBC appears to show a physical altercation between French and Sanchez shortly before the incident. The French family agreed that French shoved Sanchez to the ground before the shooting took place.

A jury in Riverside, California decided not to bring charges against Sanchez in September 2019, leading to protests, KNBC reported at the time.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a release that the new charges follow a review of the evidence by his office under the state constitution.

"Where there's reason to believe a crime has been committed, we will seek justice," Bonta said in the release. "That's exactly what these charges are about: pursuing justice after an independent and thorough review of the evidence and the law."

Bonta added that nobody is above the law, and that having a license to carry a firearm does not preclude someone from being held accountable for how they use it.