TARZANA (CNS) – A 35-year-old woman wielding a metal dumbbell bar and who allegedly assaulted four people before she was fatally shot by police in Tarzana was identified Tuesday, July 11.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the woman as Jessica Brown.
Los Angeles Police Department officers responded around 8:30 a.m. Sunday to several calls of an assault with a deadly weapon suspect in the area of Reseda Boulevard and Hatteras Street. The suspect allegedly attacked four victims along Reseda with what looked like a metal pipe, leaving them with serious head and face injuries, police said.
Arriving officers encountered Brown near the parking lot of a gas station at Reseda and Burbank boulevards, where she allegedly advanced on the officers, who “deployed a Taser and 40mm foam baton round,” according to the LAPD.
When those measures failed to stop the woman, officers opened fire, police said.
“The metal pipe was determined to be a metal dumbbell bar, approximately 14 inches long.”
Paramedics took Brown to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Two of the injured victims remained hospitalized with stable vital signs, police said. No officers were injured.
Investigators subsequently learned Brown was a suspect in attacks on four other people Saturday, police said.
“A mother and child were in a parked vehicle when the suspect smashed the windows,” police said. “Two males were also struck with a similarly described weapon [Saturday], one in the head causing a cut, and the other in the arm. Both declined medical treatment.”
LAPD Police Chief Michel Moore discussed the shooting in his report to the Board of Police Commissioners Tuesday morning. He noted the shooting represented the 13th LAPD officer shooting this year.
Moore said that despite numerous commands from officers to drop her weapon, Brown “continued to advance toward them.”
According to the chief, Brown got within five feet of the officers and tried to strike them with the metal bar.
No officers were injured, Moore said.
The department’s Force Investigation Division responded to the shooting and are investigating in consultation with the Mental Evaluation Unit and the Department of Mental Health.
LAPD will receive a report regarding Brown’s mental health history, including actions taken by those agencies to provide her with mental health services.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement Monday addressing the LAPD shooting, calling it a “devastating tragedy.”
“Adequate and appropriate mental health services should prevent individuals from deteriorating to inflicting harm to themselves and to others,” Bass said in a statement.
“This tragedy resulted in the death of someone undergoing a mental health crisis after violent assaults on several members of our community that sent four people to the hospital with severe injuries.”
The mayor said that in January, she and Moore agreed to expand the capabilities of the Mental Evaluation Unit and the System-wide Mental Assessment Team and “reform” how officers engage people suffering a mental health crisis.
“We have taken concrete steps toward these goals, but clearly as made evident over the weekend, more must be done,” Bass said.
Will they release the body cam footage?
The 14 inch short dumbbar was scene on the ground at gas station. She was shot under the freeway…
Did she stop when they tased her? Did she stop when they shot her with a foam bullet? Did she stop after they shot her? Did they shoot her in the head, leg, body?
Police should be trained to help people. I have seen plenty of police take down people and arrest them.
Why shoot and kill her.