Audio: 911 call released after laundromat stabbing

The family of a woman killed by Anaheim police Sunday after officers said she rushed at them with knives said she had been trying to arm herself with a gun earlier in the day, according to authorities.

The woman, identified as 43-year-old Monique Jenee Deckard, was fatally shot by officers outside her apartment about 5:30 p.m. after she stabbed a woman in the back with a knife at a local laundromat, Anaheim police said.

In an audio recording released Monday of a 911 call reporting the stabbing, an employee at the laundromat can be heard describing to police what happened.

“Female stabbed another female,” the caller says when prompted by an emergency dispatcher. “The one that stabbed, she lives in the apartment right behind the laundromat.”

As it turns out, officers had been trying to find Deckard just a few hours earlier, according to a department statement. Deckard’s family had called police at about 3:30 p.m. and said they couldn’t get in contact with her and that she had a history of mental instability and had been trying to get a gun, according to authorities.

Officers went to her home on South Roberts Street about 3:30 p.m., but Deckard wasn’t there.

Two hours later, officers were dispatched to the laundromat in front of Deckard’s apartment after the stabbing was reported, police say.

When officers knocked on Deckard’s door and identified themselves, she refused to come out, authorities said. Police called for a negotiator, but Deckard emerged with a knife in each hand and charged at officers before the negotiator arrived, authorities said.

She was shot and rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The stabbing victim is expected to survive.

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