By Karl Fischer
Contra Costa Times
SAN PABLO, Calif. — Two San Pablo police officers fired a total of 18 rounds at a woman who they say threatened her husband with a butcher knife Christmas Day, the department disclosed Friday.
The shooting killed 57-year-old Rosalyne McHenry and also wounded her husband, 51-year-old Harry McHenry.
“He was struck once through the arm,” San Pablo police Cmdr. Walt Schuld said. “He will get out of the hospital (today).”
The officers went to the McHenry home on the 2500 block of Manchester Drive at 9:53 p.m. after Rosalyne McHenry phoned 911 to report her husband abusing her, police said.
The officers, one on the force four years the other two years, separated the couple. After police spoke to them, both agreed to leave the house and part company, Schuld said; during the discussion, police handcuffed Harry McHenry because he made a flinching motion toward his wife.
The department did not release the officers’ names Friday.
Rosalyne McHenry left the house after speaking to police and the officer locked the door behind her, police said. Both officers took her husband upstairs because he said he needed cash from his safe, Schuld said.
Police heard Rosalyne McHenry enter the house again while they were upstairs. They called down for her to leave. One of the officers descended the stairs and saw her holding a butcher knife.
“He raised his hands in a defensive posture and yelled, ‘knife!’” Schuld said. “She ran past him as he was reaching for his gun.”
Rosalyne McHenry ran up the stairs with the knife upraised, Schuld said; both the officer still upstairs and Harry McHenry called for her to drop it, and Harry McHenry moved forward.
When she was about six feet away, Schuld said, both officers began shooting. Each fired nine rounds. Rosalyne McHenry died at the scene.
“Officers are trained to fire multiple times,” Schuld said.
Neither officer was hurt. The San Pablo Police Department placed both on paid leave while it conducts an internal investigation, a standard practice in officer-involved shooting cases.
Copyright 2007 Contra Costa Times