Homeless Woman Dies After Being Shot by Officer

A homeless woman who allegedly threatened a Los Angeles police officer with a screwdriver died Friday afternoon after the officer shot her in the shoulder, detectives said.

The woman, about 50 years old, was not immediately identified. She was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center about half an hour after the shooting at La Brea Avenue and 4th Street in the Hancock Park area.

Lt. Anthony Alba, an LAPD spokesman, said the incident began about 4:15 p.m., when two bicycle patrol officers--one male, the other female--tried to stop the woman on the sidewalk.

Alba said the officers, neither of whom has been identified, wanted to question the woman to see if the shopping cart she was pushing had been stolen. According to Alba, the woman immediately began acting aggressively, threatening to kill the officers. Alba said she kept walking as an argument ensued, and during the dispute a motorist stopped and attempted to convince the woman to comply with the officers’ instructions to come to a halt.

The woman continued to walk, and when the officers again attempted to stop her, she began slashing at them with a screwdriver.

The male officer, ducking out of the way, lost his balance. Feeling threatened, he fired one shot that struck the woman in the shoulder, Alba said.

Why the officers did not attempt to subdue the woman with batons or pepper spray--both of which they carried--was not immediately clear.

Alba said the homeless woman was black, the male officer is Asian and the female officer is of Asian and Latino ancestry.

Officers cordoned off several blocks shortly after the shooting. Their investigation, which snarled Friday evening rush hour traffic in the area, continued well into the night.

Several witnesses--one of them an off-duty woman officer who had a “birds-eye view” of the incident, were taken to the LAPD’s Wilshire Division station for questioning, Alba said. He said none of the witnesses contradicted the account given by the officer who fired the shot.

One man, however, told a KNX radio reporter that the officer did not fire until the woman turned away, no longer posing a threat. The man was not identified and police said they had not been able to find him.