Girl dies from gunshot wound after grabbing LA officer’s gun, police say
A girl died on Sunday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after she entered a Los Angeles county sheriff’s station and grabbed a deputy’s gun, the department said.
The incident came after the girl’s foster parent called authorities to their home around 7.25pm on Sunday, saying the girl was suffering from a mental health crisis. By the time deputies arrived, the girl was gone. About 15 minutes later, she showed up at the Industry sheriff’s station about 1 mile (1.6km) away from the home, knocked on the lobby door, entered and “lunged” to grab a deputy’s firearm out of the holster, the department said.
The department has provided no video of the incident nor specific information about whether the girl fired the gun intentionally or accidentally. A press release said that a struggle ensued and “during the struggle, the juvenile suffered from a self-inflicted gunshot wound”.
The girl was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name and age were not released. Detectives are investigating the shooting.
No deputies were injured during the altercation. The City of Industry is about 20 miles (32km) east of downtown Los Angeles.
• In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.