Richmond Police: Woman Shoots Gun Wildly During Mental Health Check, Strikes Officer

After police were called to perform a mental health wellness check on a woman in an East Richmond apartment Thursday evening, the situation quickly turned chaotic with the woman shooting a gun at officers.

The Richmond Police Department says that officers were called to the apartment complex on the 2200 block of Key Boulevard at 6:41 pm Thursday, to assist with a mental health check.

"The armed suspect barricaded inside the residence and fired numerous rounds, striking an RPD patrol vehicle and neighboring residences," the department says in a release. The female suspect also allegedly struck a Richmond police officer immediately upon their arrival, and the officer was transported to the hospital with injuries, and was listed in "serious but stable" condition.

As KTVU reports, the woman was allegedly "firing in multiple directions, hitting surrounding homes" and vehicles, in a manner Richmond Police Chief Tim Simmons would later describe as "indiscriminately."

Nearby residents were all instructed to shelter in place, and that order was lifted around 9 pm.

"Fortunately, no residents or additional personnel were injured," Simmons said at a press conference. "Given the number of rounds fired this incident could have ended with many additional injuries or several losses of life."

Simmons added, "I am extremely grateful that our officer is expected to survive, and that no resident or assisting personnel were injured in this incident."

Police officers said that at no time did they fire weapons back at the woman.

SWAT was called in, along with crisis negotiators, and the woman eventually came out of the building and surrendered to police around 8:45 pm, per KTVU.

As Richmondside reports, the mental health check was called in by an unknown person to Contra Costa County's A3 behavioral health crisis response team, and they requested Richmond police assistance.

"When circumstances present a potential safety concern, A3’s practice and policy allow them to request presence of a law enforcement officer," Chief Simmons explained.

Richmondside noted that this was the third press conference Chief Simmons has presided over in recent days, following a hit-and-run death of an 81-year-old man last weekend who was well known in the community, and the August 18 arson fire that killed four family members in one home, two of them young children.