SAN DIEGO (CNS) - An El Cajon woman wounded by police gunfire when she allegedly pointed a shotgun at officers at her apartment died of her injuries, authorities reported Monday.
Jamie Renee Fitzgerald, 35, succumbed to her injuries at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego about 11:15 p.m. Friday, according to the county Medical Examiner's Office.
The events that led to the shooting began shortly after 10:30 a.m. July 8, when Fitzgerald called police and said she wanted to turn over a shotgun to them, Lt. Mike Moulton said.
Officers said they arrived to find her standing with the gun in her hands on a balcony outside her second-floor residence in the 200 block of Jamacha Road.
Fitzgerald then allegedly began wielding the shotgun in a threatening manner and manipulating its loading action while officers waited at ground level, potentially in her line of fire.
Police personnel, including a crisis negotiator, tried in vain for more than a half-hour to persuade Fitzgerald to put down the weapon, Moulton said.
Eventually, she walked back into her apartment, then re-emerged onto the deck moments later and allegedly pointed the gun at officers, prompting one of them to fire three rounds at her.
Officers forced their way into the residence and administered first-aid until medics arrived and took Fitzgerald to a trauma center.
It was unclear what might have prompted Fitzgerald's actions, though she had recently been released from a hospital following treatment for emotional and physical problems, her sister, Kari Powell, told reporters.
Investigators were looking into the possibility that Fitzgerald behaved the way she did in order to commit "suicide by cop," according to police.
Powell challenged the official version of the shooting, telling the news station the shotgun was unloaded and that her sister only wanted officers to remove it from her home.
