An Orange County Sheriff’s deputy shot and wounded a woman at a Dana Point residence in March after she approached deputies while holding a kitchen knife, body-worn camera footage released Tuesday, May 20, shows.
As earlier reported by the sheriff’s department, it happened around 4:10 a.m. on Friday, March 28, after a caller reported that a neighbor was “screaming erratically and crying,” according to a 911 recording. Deputies were dispatched to a home in Ritz Pointe, a gated community near Camino del Avion and Corniche Drive.
Body camera video shows two deputies arriving and knocking on the woman’s door. Moments later, the door swings open and a woman steps outside, appearing to wield a large kitchen knife. The knife is raised near her head as she advances several steps toward one of the deputies. The deputy fires four rounds, and the woman retreats into the home.
Footage shows her lying on the floor on her back, the knife still in her right hand and blood visible on the same arm. Deputies repeatedly order her to drop the weapon as she appears to cry and says, “Please, God, save my soul.”
The woman continues to clutch the knife while responding, “Don’t shoot,” several times. Eventually, she releases the weapon. The final moments of the video show a deputy putting on gloves.
Orange County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Matt Timmins said the woman was struck multiple times, though the exact number of gunshot wounds was not confirmed. He added that deputies handcuffed the woman and rendered aid, including applying a chest seal. A chest seal is a dressing that allows for air to exit a wound, but not enter, in order to prevent further injury.
The woman, identified only as a 38-year-old, is expected to survive, Timmins said. Further details on her condition or what led to the confrontation were not immediately available.
The circumstances remain under investigation.