Woman shot by officer was threatening housemate, police say

The woman who was shot Friday by a UA police officer was wielding a large knife and walking toward her housemate, said a Tucson police spokesman.

The woman, said Tucson police Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, “suffers from significant mental issues." She was shot multiple times by UA Corporal Andrew Kisela Friday afternoon in a neighborhood near campus.

Kisela was flagged down shortly after 5 p.m. by a person in the 800 block of East Seventh Street, Pacheco said, and Kisela saw the woman with a "chef's knife" walking toward another woman in a yard.

Kisela ordered the woman several times to “drop the knife”, but the woman kept walking toward the other woman, and Kisela fired his weapon, Pacheco said.

The Tucson Police Department is overseeing the shooting investigation.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“Under state statute, an officer is justified in using deadly force in defense of a third person when an officer sees an immediate threat,” said Pacheco in an interview Saturday.

The knife-wielding woman was struck once in the lower abdomen, once in the forearm and also struck in the lower extremities, Pacheco said.

She was taken to a local hospital and the injuries are not considered life-threatening, said Pacheco.

Initially, police reported that the woman was shot once by Kisela.