Woman Shot by Officer in Her Home

A Hawthorne police officer seriously wounded a woman who allegedly pointed a handgun at officers during a five-hour impasse at her home Monday, authorities said.

The 50-year-old woman, whom police did not immediately identify, was shot in the upper torso shortly before 6 a.m. at her house in the 3700 block of 132nd Street, said Lt. Tom Martin of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

At 12:15 a.m., authorities say, they received a call from a neighbor who said the woman was screaming and throwing things in her home. When two officers arrived at the home, she refused to come out. Officers said they looked through a window and saw that she was holding a handgun. They repeatedly asked her to put the gun down but she refused, Martin said.

A standoff ensued; a negotiator was called in. They heard a gunshot coming from the house about 3 a.m. When officers entered the home, they found the woman armed but unharmed and were unable to get her to drop the gun.

They said she aimed it at the officers. One fired his weapon, striking her in the upper torso.