For release on June 11, 2015 CONTACT:
James Gibbons-Shapiro
Assistant District Attorney
(408) 792-2985 DA REPORT: DEPUTY LAWFULLY SHOT AND KILLED KNIFE-WIELDING WOMAN The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has concluded that a Santa Clara Sheriff’s Deputy in 2013 lawfully shot and killed a mentally unstable San Jose woman who was assaulting her with a kitchen knife. Three deputies at the scene had repeatedly ordered Andrea Naharro-Gionet, 61, to drop the knife. Naharro-Gionet, carrying a guitar in one hand and the knife in the other, ignored the commands and rushed toward the deputies. Fearing she was about to be stabbed, Deputy Jennifer Galan, a three year veteran of the force, fatally fired her weapon. Deputy District Attorney Kevin Smith wrote in a 21-page report: “Under the facts, circumstances, and applicable law in this matter, Deputy Galan’s use of deadly force was in response to an apparent and immediate threat of great bodily injury or death to herself and other officers.” The District Attorney’s Office investigates all fatal law enforcement encounters to determine if the lethal force was legal. By law, officers are allowed to use deadly force when faced with imminent danger. Responding to a call of a possible burglary, the three deputies quickly arrived at a Cleveland Avenue apartment building just after midnight on November 16, 2013. There they saw Naharro-Gionet on her porch, with a knife in her hand, screaming. She approached the deputies, who scrambled to retreat. Trapped from escaping by a fence, a porch, and a jumble of yard furniture, Deputy Galan repeatedly ordered Naharro-Gionet to drop the knife, who responded by raising the knife in an apparent attack. The deputy fired her weapon three times when the armed woman was about four feet away. An investigation showed that Naharro-Gionet, had previously been committed involuntarily to a mental hospital and suffered from delusional episodes. She been acting bizarrely for several days before her confrontation with deputies. A neighbor described her behavior that night as “crazy, evil, pissed, possessed”. An incoherent Naharro-Gionet smashed her husband’s guitar and threatened him with the knife. He drove away before deputies arrived. # # #
James Gibbons-Shapiro
Assistant District Attorney
(408) 792-2985 DA REPORT: DEPUTY LAWFULLY SHOT AND KILLED KNIFE-WIELDING WOMAN The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has concluded that a Santa Clara Sheriff’s Deputy in 2013 lawfully shot and killed a mentally unstable San Jose woman who was assaulting her with a kitchen knife. Three deputies at the scene had repeatedly ordered Andrea Naharro-Gionet, 61, to drop the knife. Naharro-Gionet, carrying a guitar in one hand and the knife in the other, ignored the commands and rushed toward the deputies. Fearing she was about to be stabbed, Deputy Jennifer Galan, a three year veteran of the force, fatally fired her weapon. Deputy District Attorney Kevin Smith wrote in a 21-page report: “Under the facts, circumstances, and applicable law in this matter, Deputy Galan’s use of deadly force was in response to an apparent and immediate threat of great bodily injury or death to herself and other officers.” The District Attorney’s Office investigates all fatal law enforcement encounters to determine if the lethal force was legal. By law, officers are allowed to use deadly force when faced with imminent danger. Responding to a call of a possible burglary, the three deputies quickly arrived at a Cleveland Avenue apartment building just after midnight on November 16, 2013. There they saw Naharro-Gionet on her porch, with a knife in her hand, screaming. She approached the deputies, who scrambled to retreat. Trapped from escaping by a fence, a porch, and a jumble of yard furniture, Deputy Galan repeatedly ordered Naharro-Gionet to drop the knife, who responded by raising the knife in an apparent attack. The deputy fired her weapon three times when the armed woman was about four feet away. An investigation showed that Naharro-Gionet, had previously been committed involuntarily to a mental hospital and suffered from delusional episodes. She been acting bizarrely for several days before her confrontation with deputies. A neighbor described her behavior that night as “crazy, evil, pissed, possessed”. An incoherent Naharro-Gionet smashed her husband’s guitar and threatened him with the knife. He drove away before deputies arrived. # # #