Woman, Brandishing Toy Pistol in Hollywood, Fatally Shot by Officer

An unidentified woman who threatened several people in Hollywood with a toy pistol Saturday was fatally wounded when she was shot four times by a Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer, authorities said.

The woman died at 5:40 p.m. after surgery at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. She was shot by police officer George Caulford an hour earlier on Cahuenga Avenue between Hollywood Boulevard and Selma Avenue, police spokesman Lt. William Hall said.

The shooting occurred a few minutes after Caulford was flagged down by a business person who reported that the woman had pointed a gun at a customer inside his store and then hurried away on foot southbound on Cahuenga, Hall said.

Moments later Caulford observed a woman talking to two men sitting in a car who had “fear in their eyes,” Hall said.

“The driver dove out the window, and as soon as he did, she pulled a gun from her handbag and pointed at him,” Hall said. “The officer yelled something . . . but she didn’t respond. . . . He fired four times from his pistol.”

“When it was all said and done,” Hall added, “she had a very realistic looking replica of a 9mm (handgun).”