Woman shot by police dies

A 19-year-old woman died last Friday after being shot by two Huntington Beach police officers who she allegedly tried to attack with a knife.

Ashley MacDonald was taken to Huntington Beach Hospital after being critically injured early Friday.

Her shooting has prompted protests as people question why officers had to use deadly force to subdue her.

MacDonald had cut her mother earlier in the day during an argument and left the apartment carrying the knife, said Jim Amormino, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

A passerby saw the young woman walking down Sher Lane near Bella Terra Mall “acting very bizarre,” Amormino said. The woman passerby called 911 after MacDonald responded aggressively to her offer to help.

Two police officers responded to the call. They found her in Sun View Park off Edinger Avenue and Beach Boulevard and repeatedly asked her to drop the knife, Amormino said.

The woman, instead of dropping the knife, continued advancing toward the officers in a threatening manner when the officers shot her.

MacDonald was shot at least a couple of times in the upper body but an autopsy will determine the number, Amormino said.

A group of people gathered outside the Huntington Beach Police Department on Tuesday to protest the shooting. They demanded to know why the two police officers shot her instead of using other means of subduing her.

Amormino said that one officer was loading a pepper ball gun when MacDonald lunged at the officer with the knife.

“There was no time to use the pepper ball gun,” he said.

Officers when they received the radio call had been told to use “less than lethal force,” he added. A fourth officer, who had a bean bag gun, was minutes away from arriving at the scene.

Police Chief Ken Small said there were about 30 to 50 people protesting.

“It’s a very difficult thing for everyone to deal with,” he said.

“I respect people’s opinions, be they positive or negative, if it helps them deal with it, it’s a good thing.”

The teenager lived in an apartment complex in the 16200 block of Sher Lane and appeared to be unemployed, according to Amormino.

When MacDonald’s mother, was informed of her daughter’s death, she became distraught and was taken by ambulance to the Huntington Beach Hospital, he added.

The Huntington Beach Police Department has also received several phone calls and e-mails about the shooting.

“We realize there’s been a tragic situation with Macdonald’s family,” said Lt. Craig Juninger, spokesman for the department. “Obviously the community has opinions of what has occurred.”

Juninger said he had received about six to seven e-mails and other officers had received them also.

Small said he would personally respond to all the e-mails once he has information about the case.

The two officers have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigates officer-involved shootings in Huntington Beach, Westminster and other cities.

After the investigation is completed, the department will turn it over to the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

“Some of the characterizations I have seen of police officers being out of control are absolutely untrue,” Small said. “They’re fine officers, and they’re as traumatized by this event as everybody else.”

Autopsy tests performed on MacDonald will help determine if she was under the influence of drugs, Amormino said. The autopsy has been completed and is pending the Sheriff’s review.

A toxicological test will take about four weeks to be processed, Amormino said.