SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — The family of a Rio Linda man killed by a Sacramento County Sheriff's Office deputy filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
The deadly shooting happened in March 2024 when a deputy shot and killed 38-year-old Christopher Gilmore. Deputies were responding to reports Gilmore was having a mental health crisis and injuring himself.
Christopher Gilmore was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder when he was around 34 years old, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the Sacramento County Superior Court. The plaintiffs are Bobbie Gilmore, Christopher Gilmore's sister, Christopher Gilmore's daughter identified as N.G. and Christopher Gilmore's son identified as E.G. The children are minors and only their initials are listed in the lawsuit.
Bobbie Gilmore previously told ABC10 she gave arriving deputies a warning, asking them not to hurt him.
"He has mental issues, he's not all stable in his head and he needed help," she previously said. "This was a cry for help, he needed help."
Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper and undersheriff Mike Zeigler were named in the lawsuit and accused of not enforcing discipline on deputies for excessive force.
The Gilmore family hired attorney Daniel Del Rio to investigate video of the entire incident captured by the family's surveillance cameras.
"It’s startling, to say the least. It is an absolute tragedy that occurred. The situation is essentially summed up by saying we have a man who has a cry for help, and unfortunately, it's answered with gunshots," Del Rio previously told ABC10.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office told ABC10 it can't comment on pending litigation.
Case History
The shooting happened March 23 along the 6500 block of Campanile Street. Family members reported 38-year-old Christopher Gilmore was cutting himself in a bathroom and was armed with a knife. The family later described the knife as a shaving razor after the shooting.
Upon arrival, deputies spoke with the family and tried to call him out of the home, but he refused. Citing one of Gilmore's roommates, deputies said Gilmore allegedly wanted to die by "suicide by cop."
Dispatch audio released by the sheriff's office revealed he also had schizophrenia and thought everyone was against him. Deputies also learned he was arrested about six days prior and was on a pre-trial release on his own recognizance.
The video shows deputies unsuccessfully trying to call Gilmore out of the house and trying to figure out if Gilmore made comments about dying that day.
Not long after, Gilmore opened the garage door with what the sheriff's office described as a knife in his hand.
Deputies told Gilmore to drop the knife and tried to get him to surrender peacefully, calling on him to come out with nothing in his hands.
Deputies said Gilmore eventually left the garage with the knife and started walking toward them. One deputy fired multiple less-lethal shotgun rounds at Gilmore to try and stop him, but they didn't work.
"Despite multiple directives to stop and being hit with multiple less lethal rounds, Gilmore continued to advance and came within just several feet of a deputy while still holding the knife before the deputy shot him with his service weapon," the sheriff's office said in a news release.
Gilmore was ultimately hit six times with the less-lethal rounds and shot three times with a gun. Deputies applied first aid, but Gilmore died at the scene.
Deputies said the knife Gilmore had was six inches long with a 3 1/2-inch blade.
The deputy who shot him has been with the sheriff's office since 2019.
Watch more on ABC10 | 'He needed help': Family of man shot, killed by Sacramento County deputies left angry
