Woman Fatally Shot by Anaheim Police Had History of Violence, Brother Says

A woman fatally shot by Anaheim police was both paranoid and schizophrenic, and had a history of violence, family members said Monday.

Monique Jenee Deckard's mental illness began when she was a child, said her brother, Nick Deckard. As a teenager she became dangerous.

"She shot at me," he said. "She was able to get to a gun that was in the house and she literally pulled the trigger."

The Anaheim man was not hurt, but the incident landed his sister behind bars even before she became an adult.

"She's like a tea pot," said Marquis Deckard, the woman’s sister-in-law. "As long as she sits there, she’s fine. But once you turn on that heat, she starts to boil."

Family members said  the 43-year-old woman had been asking around for a gun since Friday. Her brother and his wife called the county's emergency mental health line about 3:30 p.m., who advised them to call police.

No one answered at Deckard's apartment Sunday.

Two hours later, a different set of officers responded to a 911 call about a stabbing at a laundromat in the 900 block of South Euclid Street..

Police were led to an apartment complex behind the business, where witnesses told officers the woman may have been hiding.

"At this point we didn't know that the suspect in this stabbing at the time the call comes in was the person we had been out on earlier," Anaheim police Lt. Bob Dunn said.

Police contacted the woman and ordered her out of the apartment complex, but she told them through the door that she would not come out, so crisis negotiators were summoned, he said. But before they arrived, the suspect came out armed with two knives, officials said.

"At this time several Anaheim police officers were involved in an officer-involved shooting," Dunn said.

Deckard was struck by gunfire and taken to a hospital, where she died.

"You could've tased her and got her the help that she needed," Marquis Deckard.

The woman with whom Decker had been fighting was treated at the scene for a minor wound to her back.

"This incident doesn't seem entirely right," Deckard's brother said.

Records show Deckard had voluntarily checked herself in to mental hospitals since 2005.

Police released the 911 call from the laundromat operator telling them one woman had stabbed another and gone to her apartment behind the laundromat.

NBC4's Jason Kandel contributed to this report.