Police in California rescued a 3-year-old boy by shooting and killing a “very distraught” family friend who was pointing a gun at his head, as seen in a chilling image from a body camera video.
Darvet Brown, 35, was confronted by officers with the San Bernardino Police Department inside an apartment on East 21st Street Sunday morning and shot multiple times. She died at the scene.
The harrowing incident began unfolding around 8 a.m., when police received a 911 call from a grandmother saying that an armed woman was inside her apartment threatening her 3-year-old grandson, reported the station KTLA.
Responding officers were met by the caller, who told them that she feared for the tot’s life because the woman — later identified as Brown– had already fired the gun several times inside the apartment.
As the police were talking to the grandmother, they said they saw Brown, whom they described as “very distraught,” emerge onto the balcony and point the gun at them, before dashing back inside the apartment and locking the door.
Cops kicked down the door and saw Brown standing on a bed and pointing the gun at the 3-year-old sobbing at her feet.
One of the officers opened fire on the woman, striking her multiple times and injuring her. When Brown refused to drop the gun and resumed pointing it at the boy, police shot her again, this time fatally, and then pulled the tot to safety.
The San Bernardino PD has released a screenshot from a body camera video showing Brown pointing her gun at the toddler.
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The child was not physically harmed in the shooting.
First responders tried to save Brown’s life, but she succumbed to her injuries.
Police said Brown was not related to the boy and there has been no immediate word on her motive for threatening him with a gun, adding that her “behavior is not fully understood at this time.”
The mother of the 3-year-old told NBC Los Angeles that Brown was her friend, but she did not go into further detail.
“We don’t we don’t really understand the reasoning behind the suspect’s chaotic behavior,” Lt. Jennifer Kohrell, with the San Bernardino Police Department, told the local outlet. “She had been very violent with the residents there for quite some time before we even got there.”
Kohrell said the lives of the people in the apartment were in danger and officers had to act quickly.
“We are just very grateful that our officers acted swiftly and were able to save that child’s life,” she said. said.