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Man suspected in fatal shooting at San Diego Central Library had restraining order

Judge ordered Kenny Chaney to stay away from family and to not possess guns.

SAN DIEGO — The 21-year-old man accused in Tuesday's shooting at the Downtown San Diego Central Library, that killed one man and injured another, had an active restraining order against him, CBS 8 has learned.

The grandmother of Kenneth “Kenny” Chaney said she filed for the restraining order last year to protect herself and her other grandchildren from Chaney's violent behavior.

The woman did not want to be identified because Chaney is now in jail on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, and assault with a firearm.

Police said the incident began as an altercation over a stolen backpack.

Surveillance video from a nearby coffee shop showed a man running away from the shooting scene holding a gun and wearing a mask.

The suspect’s grandmother said she filed the restraining order on February 25, 2022, because she “didn’t want him to keep going on the fights with his sister, because she was just a minor and he's an adult.”

In court papers, the 62-year-old woman wrote about an attack a week earlier where, “[Chaney] became angry and threatened my granddaughter, shoved me into the couch and onto the ground, threatened me with a brick, and threw rocks and bricks at my truck, shattering the windows."

The woman told CBS 8, “I needed him to grow up. That was my purpose for him, to grow up, to be responsible for his life. But unfortunately, it didn't happen.”

In May 2022, a judge ordered Chaney to stay away from his grandmother, five family members, and the family's three dogs.

The term of the restraining order was two years. Chaney also was court ordered not to possess any guns or ammunition.

Still, he was able to work as a security guard under a state license issued in January 2021.

The grandmother said Chaney had hoped to enlist in the military, but that never happened.

She offered an apology to the family of the victim killed in the shooting, 20-year-old Tray Walker.

“I’m sorry at any time a life is lost.  But what can we do?  This is the kind of society we live in. There's so much violence, so much anger in people.  I'm deeply, deeply sorry for the mother, the siblings, kids if he has any, and the entire family. I'm so sorry,” the grandmother said.

Cheney's arraignment currently is set for May 30 at the Downtown San Diego courthouse.

WATCH RELATED: Loved ones mourn death of 20-year-old father shot and killed outside San Diego Central Library (May 2023).


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