Woman Firing Gun Into Pasadena Office Is Slain

A woman who authorities said fired a handgun into a Pasadena law office Monday died of multiple wounds from gunshots, apparently fired by police.

Authorities received a call from neighbors at 7:05 p.m. that a woman was firing shots into the building, in the 500 block of South Marengo Avenue, police said.

The woman, described as being dressed in black, “was asked repeatedly to drop the weapon, said Pasadena Police Cmdr. Mary Schander.

Police said it was unclear what happened after that, but according to Schander, “at some point shots were fired by Pasadena police officers.”

Although the woman’s identity had not been released late Monday, a spokesperson at Huntington Memorial Hospital, where she was taken, said she had been shot several times in the chest.

Two adults and two children were inside the office but were not injured, Schander said.

Bullet holes marked the windows of the two-story Craftsman-style building on a quiet tree-shaded street of small businesses, bungalow courts and meticulously renovated houses. A shingle on the building indicated that it houses the law offices of Charles T. Mathews.

“We’re still sorting out the sequence of events,” Schander said.

The woman was pronounced dead at the hospital about 7:45 p.m., authorities said.

Detectives were interviewing witnesses late Monday night to determine exactly how she died and the relationship between her and those inside the law office.

Police said they were still trying to contact family members of the victim late Monday.

Times staff writer Miles Corwin contributed to this story.