Several car windows were smashed by a woman with a metal object who went on a rampage in Covina before she was shot by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy, the agency said.
The events unfolded at about 10 a.m. at the intersection of Cypress Street and Vincent Avenue. Paramedics rushed the woman in her 20s to a hospital, where she was in critical condition, but expected to survive.
Witnesses described what led up to the confrontation.
"Like a giant wrench. Something giant and metal, I wasn’t sure if it was a pipe a wrench or a bat but it was metal so it was doing a lot of damage to the vehicles," said Hallie, a witness who did not wish to be identified further.
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Hallie saw the whole scene unfold from inside her car.
"Trying to swing at cars as they were driving by she hit a couple of them but they just kept driving, she hit this guys vehicle and he almost hit her and he had to swerve into on coming traffic the car behind him almost hit him," Hallie said. "She kept coming back and forth down and then she hit the fence on this property, made it across the street, hit that guy’s car across the street."
When sheriff's arrived, Hallie pointed out the woman to one of the deputies.
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"He saw her, she went right over to us his car smashed the back of his windshield, he got out and she was coming at him with the weapon and he shot her three times, I just saw her fall to the floor and start screaming," Hallie said.
Hallie says she heard the deputy yell out commands to the woman before he fired his weapon.
As the woman approached the patrol unit, she shattered its rear window with the pipe wrench, the sheriff's department said. The woman then charged toward the deputy and a deputy, the agency said.
"He was backing up and she was coming at him and he said 'Stop stop' and three shots," Hallie said.
The woman, who witnesses say was possibly in her 20's was taken to a nearby hospital for her injuries. She is in critical condition but is expected to survive.
She was armed with a pipe wrench, according to authorities. People who woke up to the sound of gunshots are still shaken.
"We just heard some gunshots so we went the opposite direction of the front door," said Dewey Bankson a witness.
Many people are still wondering what motivated the woman to act out so violently.
Authorities say three to four vehicles were damaged.
