The Region - News from Sept. 1, 1987

Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators said they believed a Lakewood woman who was shot to death after pointing a loaded pistol at a deputy was trying to commit suicide. Denise Mondello, 30, reportedly drew the gun and aimed at the unidentified officer while she sat in a car in a Whittier hospital parking lot. The deputy immediately reacted by drawing his service revolver and firing one round, said a Sheriff’s Department spokesman. Investigators said she left a suicide note and would have had ample time to fire if she wished.