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LAKE ELSINORE: Deputies shoot woman after traffic pursuit
Driver taken to hospital, dies
By North County Times | ∞
LAKE ELSINORE ---- Deputies shot a 45-year-old Lake Elsinore woman who came at them with a knife and replica handgun after an erratic traffic pursuit early Saturday morning, a Riverside County Sheriff's Department report states.
The woman, identified by a news agency as Jill Whitney Heller, died from her injuries at 1:14 a.m., about an hour after the shooting, according to a written report on the Sheriff Department's Web site.
At about 12:10 a.m., deputies attempted to stop the woman, who was driving in the Goodhope area near Highway 74 and Spring Street. She appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the department's report states.
She led deputies on a pursuit, driving erratically.
They used a spike strip to try to stop her, the report states. When she eventually did stop her car, the woman refused to surrender, the report continues. She drove away several times from the deputies.
Deputies then used unspecified "less-lethal" options to take her into custody.
But after the woman exited her vehicle brandishing a knife and black replica handgun, deputies shot her.
It's not clear how many deputies shot her or how many shots were fired, sheriff's Investigator Juan Zamora said.
The report states that deputies feared for their lives when she came at them.
The woman died at Inland Valley Regional Medical Center in Wildomar.
As required by department policy, Zamora said, the deputies involved in the shooting will temporarily be placed on administrative assignments.
The matter remains under investigation, he added.
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to call Investigator Eichelt with the department's Central Homicide Unit at (760) 393-3500 or Investigator Mooney at (951) 245-3300.
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