Woman Slain by Police Had Made Threats

Around the converted Pasadena bungalow that houses the law offices of Charles T. Mathews, something had gone terribly wrong.

Mathews, a lawyer who has tangled in court with some of Hollywood’s biggest names, feared for his life. It was his former legal secretary. They’d had a “dating or engagement relationship,” Mathews said in court papers, and now she was threatening to kill him.

But Tuesday, the secretary, Patricia Kay Gonzales, was dead--killed the previous night in a clash with police on the porch of the Marengo Avenue law firm where she worked until last month. Authorities began probing the slaying amid revelations that prosecutors were preparing to charge Gonzales, 54, of Whittier, for allegedly brandishing a gun at Mathews’ home in La Canada Flintridge.

That charge--a misdemeanor count of exhibiting a deadly weapon Aug. 4--was filed Tuesday in Glendale Municipal Court, after Gonzales’ death. She was to have appeared in court Sept. 8.

The Aug. 4 incident prompted Mathews, 49, who has represented clients suing the likes of pop megastar Michael Jackson and the late film producer Don Simpson, to seek a restraining order the next day. Attempts to reach Mathews on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Police said Gonzales fired a revolver into the law offices about 7 p.m. Monday, while Mathews’ wife and two children were inside. Authorities said Gonzales was struck by five shots, one of which may have come from her gun. An autopsy was pending.