Police: Suicidal Woman Killed after Pointing Gun at Officers
Last Edited: Thursday, 04 Sep 2008, 7:58 AM CDT
Created: Thursday, 04 Sep 2008, 7:40 AM CDT
FORT WORTH, Texas -- A woman who was apparently intent on ending her life pointed a gun at a Fort Worth police officer who shot her twice in the chest killing her, according to Lt. Paul Henderson, police spokesman.
Two patrol officers driving through a park in the 4300 block of Sansom Drive Wednesday night noticed a car parked with the lights out.
The officers checked out the vehicle and found a woman sitting in the front seat slumped over the steering wheel crying. Investigators said the woman had been writing a suicide note when the officers approached her car.
Henderson said one officer reached through the driver's side window and put his hand on the woman's shoulder to see if she was OK. As she leaned back, she allegedly revealed a small .22 pistol.
The officer stepped back from the car and the woman put the gun to the side of her head and pulled the trigger, but she was not fatally wounded.
Police said she then cocked the gun and pointed it at the other officer who was near the passenger side window.
That officer fired his service weapon through the windshield striking the woman twice and killing her.
"We are deeply saddened for the woman and the loss her family has experienced. We are equally saddened for the officers who went through this ordeal, " said Lt. Henderson.
The officers will be allowed to take time off but the Fort Worth Police Department does not have a policy of putting officers involved in shootings on administrative leave.
Major Case Detectives are investigating. Their findings will be turned over a Grand Jury which will decide if the officer was justified in shooting the woman.
The Medical Examiner's Office has not released the woman's name.