HMB teenager shot by deputy

San Jose Mercury News/Crime and Courts/Erin Ivie, 6/4/14.  "Half Moon Bay woman, 18, fatally shot by deputy after lunging at him with knife, authorities say." 

18 year old teen treated for depression,
stopped taking her medications.
She lunged at the deputy with a knife, dead

"HALF MOON BAY -- An 18-year-old woman was fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy Tuesday night after she lunged at him with a knife as he encountered her in the street, authorities said.The woman, identified as Yanira Serrano-Garcia, of Half Moon Bay, was shot and killed by sheriff's deputy Menh Trieu, with whom she got "in a confrontation" about 9:23 p.m., San Mateo County Sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Rosenblatt said. 

....  "I don't know why they couldn't have done better things instead of getting a bullet through her and trying to shoot her," said Saul Miramontes, Serrano-Garcia's cousin. "She was kind of sick -- you know, at least they could have Tasered her or at least tackled her." 

Yanira's home with parents

The incident marked the second officer-involved shooting in San Mateo County this year, making 2014 the first year since 2006 with more than one officer-involved shooting. The last officer-involved shooting occurred March 18 in Pacifica, when 34-year-old Errol Chang, who was also mentally ill and armed with a knife, was shot and killed by a Daly City SWAT officer."  Read article, includes Channel 7 video, comments from her cousin 42 seconds.

Related article- Half Moon Bay Review/Staff, 6/4/14.  "The incident occurred around 9:23 p.m., after a family member called 911 for medical help. As deputies began heading toward the home, the call quickly escalated in severity. In less than a minute, dispatchers were warning deputies the situation was a “5150” – a welfare code designating a dangerous person with a mental disorder. A short time later, deputies were warned the woman had a knife. .... Residents in the area said Serrano had a mental disability and was prescribed medication. Sheriff's officials say this was not the first time they had been called out because she had exhibited violent behavior. Serrano had a tendency to walk or ride a scooter around the neighborhood, sometimes speaking to herself, neighbors say. She previously went to El Granada Elementary and Cunha Intermediate schools, and later continued taking classes at a special education school, according to a neighbor and classmate who asked not to be named.

Related article - KTVU, channel 2, and Wires/Alex Savidge, 6/4/14.  "Deputies responded to a report of a violent female subject possibly armed at the Moonridge Housing Complex on Miramontes Point Road east of state Highway 1 around 9:20 p.m., San Mateo County Sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Rosenblatt said. Relatives said the 18-year-old woman's family called 911 because she wasn't taking her medication.  Her aunt told KTVU the young woman, who family identified as 18-year-old Yanira Serrano-Garcia, suffered from depression. A deputy who arrived at the scene and confronted the woman feared for his life and shot at her, Rosenblatt said.

Note photographs from articles above:  Yanira Serrano-Garcia from KTVU;  Yanira's home from Half Moon Bay Review.

Posted by Kathy Meeh