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Police Killing of O.C. Teen Is Investigated

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From a Times Staff Writer

Investigators looking into the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old woman by Huntington Beach police announced Wednesday that officers had tried to use nonlethal weapons, but she lunged at them with a knife before they were ready.

The two officers responding to a 911 call that Ashley MacDonald was walking through a residential area with a knife had called, respectively, for guns that shoot rubber bullets and beanbags, said Jim Amormino, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

When the woman lunged at them with the knife, however, the officer with rubber bullets was loading his weapon and an officer with a beanbag gun was still on his way, Amormino said. The officers repeatedly warned MacDonald to “drop the knife” before firing, he said.

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The two officers who shot MacDonald have been heavily criticized by her neighbors and friends, who charge that they should have been able to subdue the 120-pound woman.

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