More than two and a half years after Apple Valley sheriff's deputies shot and killed 15-year-old Ryan Gainer, an autistic teenager whose own family had called 911 for help, San Bernardino County prosecutors have ruled the shooting legally justified. The District Attorney's Office released its findings this week, closing the books on the criminal review of a case that drew national attention over how police respond to people with autism in crisis.
The shooting happened on March 9, 2024, at Gainer's family home in the 13400 block of Iroquois Road, according to the Victorville Daily Press. Deputies had responded to a 911 call from the family around 4:48 p.m. after reports that Gainer was assaulting relatives and damaging property, CNN reported at the time.
The sheriff's department has said Gainer approached a deputy while holding what was described as an approximately five-foot-long garden tool with a sharp bladed end, per the same CNN account. Both deputies on scene fired their weapons, with three rounds total discharged. Gainer received medical aid at the scene before being taken to a hospital, where he later died of his injuries.
A Family Known to Deputies Before the Fatal Call
This was not the first time deputies had been to the Gainer home. San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at the time that deputies had responded to the house five times before, and that Gainer had previously been taken to a mental-health facility during some of those earlier visits, the station's report noted. The two deputies identified as having responded to the fatal call were Wyatt Eisenbrey and Brandon Clancy, according to KVCR.
Days after the shooting, Gainer's family filed a wrongful-death claim against San Bernardino County seeking more than $25,000 in damages, filed on March 18, 2024, as reported by the Press Enterprise. That claim was followed by a federal civil-rights lawsuit against San Bernardino County and the sheriff's department.
A Wider Pattern in How Police Handle Autism Calls
Gainer's death has been cited amid broader scrutiny of how law enforcement agencies train officers to respond to autistic people in crisis. A review of multiple studies found that up to 60% of officers had been on a call involving an autistic person, while only 5% to 40% had received any training on autism, according to the Los Angeles Times. Training programs that do exist emphasize slowing interactions down and decreasing sensory overload, the paper reported.
The concern is not new. As early as 2001, the FBI published a bulletin addressing police officers' need to adjust their approach when interacting with autistic people, per the same Los Angeles Times report. The paper also noted that in 2021, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies shot and permanently paralyzed a deaf autistic man after family members had called 911 seeking help getting him to a hospital — a case bearing echoes of the circumstances that led to Gainer's death.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office's determination closes the criminal review of the deputies' conduct, finding their use of force legally justified under the circumstances. The office's full report details the deputies' actions, the sequence of events and use of force, and prosecutors' conclusions that the shooting was justified in self-defense and defense of others.
