EDITORIAL:MacDonald case unclear

It is entirely understandable why people in the community are uneasy and upset following the death of 18-year-old Ashley MacDonald, who died after being shot multiple times by Huntington Beach Police officers early on Aug. 25.

There are the basic facts of the case — at least those that have been released to the public. What we know is that MacDonald, who was about 5 feet, 4 inches tall and about 120 pounds, was holding a knife when police officers found her and that she reportedly lunged at officers. Those officers had been told to use less-than-lethal force. But a medical report released by the lawyer who is representing MacDonald’s family suggests she received 17 gunshot wounds, including to her back, chest and arms.

And there is information that is unclear. Some witnesses say that MacDonald actually appeared to be moving away from officers. We also know the sheriffs are investigating whether MacDonald had been raped the night before she died, which could help explain the fight she had with her mother and any behavior when she encountered the police.

And there is the information that the public is not getting — chiefly, who the officers involved are.

All of this information — and lack of information — paints a disturbing picture of what happened in the moments before MacDonald was killed. All of this raises many legitimate questions about how officers reacted to this incident — and how they react in other, similar ones. The most obvious and most critical of these is simple: Why? Why did officers feel like they needed to shoot MacDonald? Was there really no other course of action?

Those questions are ones that the Huntington Beach Police Department; the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which is handling the investigation into the shooting; and the District Attorney’s office must answer as fully as possible. They even may need to answer them more completely than they might like. Officials need to understand that, given the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case, they face an unusually high burden of proof. Fairly or not, many in the community are going to need to see evidence that officers did nothing wrong — and not that officers did what was correct. Any action by the police, sheriff or district attorney that appears to be less than open will not be accepted.

And that isn’t acceptable. If the officers acted properly, they deserve to be exonerated — within their departments and in the community. But that can only happen if the investigation into this sad, sad case and all the details involved — even stretching what is usual to its absolute limits — are revealed.