|
|
Mother calls 911 to save suicidal daughter. Cop arrives, shoots daughter dead.
By RANDI ROSSMANN AND LAURA NORTON
A woman shot and killed by a Rohnert Park police officer Sunday was armed with a straight-edge razor blade she refused to drop as she came at the officer, investigators said.
But a family member of 31-year-old Heather Smith, a single woman living in Rohnert Park with her mother and pre-teen son, said the shooting was the tragic conclusion of a desperate family seeking help.
"It's just completely insane," said Edward Burns, who said he was a cousin of Smith's now living in New York City. "Apparently Heather was feeling suicidal, and my aunt Patti called 911 as a last resort to get some intervention because there was nothing left to do. She called 911 to save her daughter, and the result was quite the opposite."
Police from both Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa, now the lead investigative agency, have refused to identify the officer or the person shot, or elaborate on many of the details surrounding Sunday's shooting.
They did confirm that a 31-year-old woman was shot after an officer responded to a call from a resident seeking help on Cornell Avenue, a home listed as the residence of Patti and Heather Smith. Heather Smith is also known as Heather Billings on address records.
Police said a resident of the house called at 3:46 p.m. seeking help with her daughter, whom she said had been drinking and "might have some psych issues," according to a statement released Monday by the Santa Rosa Police Department.
The caller said her daughter hit her in the face, was "tearing things up around the house" and had cut herself.
Five minutes later, an officer arrived and approached the front door. The officer heard screaming from inside the residence, according to the statement.
The officer opened the unlocked front door and found a woman holding a blade in her right hand. Her left arm was bleeding.
The woman moved toward the officer, still holding the blade, according to the statement. The officer ordered her repeatedly to drop the blade and stop advancing. But the woman would not stop, and the officer opened fire, said Sgt. Lisa Banayat, spokeswoman for the Santa Rosa Police Department.
The death is the second to involve a police officer in Sonoma County this year. In Santa Rosa, 24-year-old Jesse Hamilton, a mental health client, was shot by a Santa Rosa officer after Hamilton came at officers with a weapon.
In that case, a stun gun was initially used but failed to stop Hamilton, authorities said. It was unclear whether the Rohnert Park officer had access to nonlethal weapons in Sunday's incident.
The shooting also raises concerns similar to those surrounding the death of 16-year-old Jeremiah Chass a year ago. He was shot and killed in a struggle with two Sonoma County sheriff's deputies after he became psychotic and violent at his family's home.
Deputies were cleared in the shooting. But it remains a catalyst for discussions about mental health care in Sonoma County and helped spur additional training for law enforcement in responding to mental health crises, training that included Rohnert Park officers this year.
Banayat said the Rohnert Park officer feared for his safety and the safety of the others in the home when he fired his handgun.
An autopsy was expected to be conducted today.
Police would not say how many shots were fired but confirmed there was only one officer on the scene.
Burns said his cousin was shot three times, at least once in the chest. He said Heather Smith was holding a blade at the time of the shooting and Patti Smith was in the room. Heather Smith's child, Kyle, was apparently not in the room at the time, Burns said.
Banayat said she didn't know if the officer carried a Taser stun gun and in a statement said detailed information would not be released until interviews with witnesses could be completed.
Lt. Jeff Taylor of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said he could not comment on Rohnert Park police protocol, access to nonlethal weapons or officer training for dealing with psychological situations.
Steve Donley, Rohnert Park city manager, said officers typically carry Taser guns, pepper spray and batons as nonlethal weapons.
Donley said he did not know the specifics of Sunday's shooting but said in close life-threatening situations, an officer's use of a nonlethal weapon might not be appropriate.
"In general, if someone is using deadly force against you, a Taser is not the weapon you could use," he said.
Donley said Rohnert Park police officers recently participated in a countywide training for law enforcement on interacting with mentally ill patients.
Donley said Rohnert Park police did have protocols in place on how to treat suspects dealing with psychological disorders.
Neighbors of the Smiths said officers had been to the home repeatedly, but they said they didn't know why. Police officials Monday said they would not release a history of police calls to the home.
On Monday, a small memorial was left in front of the home. Sitting near a white picket fence and the sidewalk, someone had left a tall candle in a glass container decorated by a picture of Jesus on the cross. Next to it was a dark pink azalea plant with an unaddressed card.
|
Latest Tyranny/Police State
- Police Sergeant Had Secret Life as Serial Rapist
- Indianapolis Police Beat Up Pregnant Woman Leading To Her Miscarriage
- Despite Possible Violence, NY Gov Vows to Collect $4.35-Per-Pack Cigarette Taxes From Native American Stores (Violently, Of Course)
- Cop shoots small dog 'because it barked'
- Cameraman arrested for calling cops Nazis
- North Carolina's Corrupted Crime Lab
- Parents Whose Kids Refuse To Go to Jail Will Be Jailed
- Fire-breathing bartenders arrested, face 45 years
|
PLEASE NOTE
|
Please read our About Page, our Disclaimer, and our Comments Policy.
Please note: InformationLiberation is neither liberal or conservative. When one takes the time to research the "liberal elite," whom the conservatives oppose, and the "conservative elite," whom the liberals oppose, one finds both "elite" are one and the same. "Liberal" or "Conservative" is not a substantive choice, it is only the carefully crafted illusion of a choice, for both parties come together when they are instructed to.
"The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson."
A letter written by FDR to Colonel House, November 21st, 1933
"Fifty men have run America, and that's a high figure."
Joseph Kennedy, father of JFK, in the July 26th, 1936 issue of The New York Times.
If you care to know who runs the world you live in, view these films. If you care not then I leave you with this quote to ponder:
"There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution."
Aldous Huxley, Tavistock Group, California Medical School, 1961
Audio - Transcript
|
|
|
FAIR USE NOTICE
|
|
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.
|
|
About Us - Disclaimer
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened..." - Winston Churchill |
|
|
The Century of the Self: The Untold History of Controlling the Masses Through the Manipulation of Unconscious Desires
Operation Gladio: "One of the most secret programs that ever existed"
Print
ACTA: The War on Progress, Freedom, and Human Civilization
Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
Feds Ignore Due Process, First Amendment, Shut Down 73,000 Blogs
Obama Administration Announces Massive Piracy Crackdown
New Bill Gives Obama 'Kill Switch' To Shut Down The Internet
The "Tax Mahal": A Shrine to Corporate Socialism
Bilderberg 2010: Between the sword and the wall
Obama: Life Imprisonment Without Trial