Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 05/08/2009

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Terry Menshek - (707) 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Chief Deputy District Attorney Spencer R. Brady

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

OFFICER LEGALLY JUSTIFIED IN SHOOTING DEATH OF ROHNERT PARK WOMAN

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced today that a Rohnert Park Police Officer was legally justified in using deadly force.  The officer was responding to a 911 call for emergency assistance at a Rohnert Park residence when the shooting occurred.  The officer fired his weapon after Ms. Heather Billings, who had severely injured herself with a utility blade-type razor, refused to drop the razor and accelerated toward the officer holding the razor blade in front of her.

District Attorney Passalacqua stated, “Based on a careful review of all the facts and circumstances, this shooting was justified under the law.  It resulted from the dangerous combination of drugs, alcohol, a utility-type razor blade, and mental illness.  This was a tragic incident for everyone involved.

Passalacqua further stated that the investigation revealed that the officer was responding to a call for assistance regarding a woman who had just deeply slashed her own arm with a razor.  She was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.  She had physically assaulted her mother in the home.  Reports indicate that she has a history of drug abuse and mental illness.  When the officer arrived, she threatened him with the razor.  He ordered her to drop it and tried to calm her down.  She refused to drop the razor.  Instead, she accelerated toward him while holding the razor out in front of her.  As she advanced on him, the officer fired his gun in defense of himself and others who were in the house.  This tragedy underscores the need for additional mental health, drug and alcohol treatment resources in this county.

On March 16, 2008, Ms. Heather Billings died from injuries resulting from multiple gunshot wounds sustained during a confrontation with Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety Officer Robert Lankford.  The shooting death occurred at a residence located at 7345 Cornell Avenue, Rohnert Park, California. Immediately after the shooting the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety invoked the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Employee-Involved Fatal Incident Protocol (“protocol”). The protocol sets forth procedures and guidelines to be used by Sonoma County law enforcement agencies in the criminal investigation of specifically defined incidents involving law enforcement employees.  Under this protocol, an outside law enforcement agency is designated to investigate officer-involved fatalities.

In this case members of the Santa Rosa Police Department assumed responsibility for the investigation of the shooting incident. Members of the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office participated in the investigation in a supporting role, in accordance with the protocol. Under the protocol the role of the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office is to review the investigation to determine if there exists any criminal liability on the part of involved parties, including any law enforcement employees; to provide assistance to the investigating agency regarding legal issues; to supplement the investigation when necessary; and, when appropriate, prosecute those persons believed to have violated the criminal law.  Once the investigation is complete the District Attorney is required by the protocol to complete a thorough review of the investigation and prepare a report summarizing the investigation and documenting his conclusions.  A copy of this report is submitted to the foreman of the Sonoma County Grand Jury.

Reports of numerous prior incidents, involving Ms. Heather Billings, document a history of mental health problems and law enforcement contacts.  This history includes witness statements, prior law enforcement reports and medical records.  For example, from June 18, 2003, through the date of this incident on March 16, 2008, there were thirty-five calls for assistance at the residence at 7345 Cornell Avenue.  According to these incident reports, Billings had a history of both mental and physical health problems, including self mutilation, suicide attempts, alcohol abuse, and abuse of both prescription and illegal drugs.

A blood sample was obtained from Billings’ body during the autopsy on March 19, 2008. The samples were sent to Central Valley Toxicology, Inc. for testing, with a request for a “complete drug screen.”  Billings’ blood tested positive for the following substances: (1) Blood Alcohol: 0.25 grams %; (2) Diazepam (Valium); (3) Nordiazepam; (4) Methadone: (5) EDDP (ethylidene dimethyl diphenylpyrrolidine).

The investigation into the shooting produced three separate statements made by Ms. Billing’s mother (Smith) who was present at the home on the date of this incident.  Her original statement involved a secretly recorded telephone conversation between Smith and a family member just minutes after the shooting.  During this conversation Smith stated that Ms. Billings was armed with a razor blade at the time of the shooting.

Smith was, thereafter, interviewed by Santa Rosa police detectives.  Portions of that statement contradict portions of her recorded telephone call statements made at the scene within moments of the shooting.  Smith also made a subsequent statement to the press which contradicted both her original telephone statement and subsequent police interview in material ways.  The investigation also revealed contradictions between Smith’s statements to the police and press, and the physical evidence and autopsy evidence. There were also contradictions between various statements made by Smith and the statements of Officer Lankford.  There were also important contradictions between Smith’s statements to the police and press and the statement of a minor who was present at the time of the shooting.  The minor’s statement was taken at the Redwood Children’s Center shortly after the incident.  Important parts of Smith’s statement to the police and the press were also contradicted by officers who arrived on the scene after the shooting.

Despite the different accounts provided by Smith, and the differences between her statements and those of others at the scene, key facts have been established with reasonable certainty based strictly on the physical, forensic, and autopsy evidence.  These facts are further supported by Smith’s original statement at the scene, Smith’s statements during the 911 call, Officer Lankford’s statements about the shooting, the minor’s statement, and the statements of other officers who arrived immediately after the shooting.

Prior to Officer Lankford’s arrival at the residence, Ms. Billings had severely cut her arm with a utility-type razor blade.  She was bleeding profusely when Officer Lankford arrived. Despite the severe wound, Billings did not show any reaction to the pain.  Billings had also been drinking heavily, taking Valium and other prescription drugs, and was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time.  Smith reported to the dispatch operator that Ms. Billings was “drunk and out of control.”  She said that Billings was “tearing my house apart,” and that “she just hit me in the face.”  Smith said, “This has been going on since yesterday and she’s torn my room apart.”  She explained that Billings “definitely has psych issues” and described Billings as a “cutter” who had just cut herself and had wiped blood all over a bed spread.  Smith reiterated “she just popped me in the face and [....] I don’t...I...but I can’t let it get any worse.”  When asked by dispatch whether Billings knew that officers were being called to the scene, Smith responded “yes, she does.  ”Dispatch asked “Was she trying to commit suicide earlier or she’s just a cutter?”  Smith responded “Um, I don’t know. I really... I mean, right now I don’t think she’s trying to commit suicide, but she, she doesn’t care if she lives or dies anymore.  I know that.”

Smith continued narrating events occurring within the house to police dispatch as Officer Lankford was en route to the residence.  Prior to Lankford’s arrival Smith yelled the following to the dispatch operator:

....Oh, she just cut herself again. Oh God!
[dispatch response]
Get a ... get a f***in’. Jesus Christ! Get a, a, an ambulance out here.
[dispatch--unintelligible]
Now she just cut it all the way open.”
[dispatch response]
Jesus Christ. Oh my God.”

When Officer Lankford arrived, Billings was holding the razor blade in her hand.  Officer Lankford tried to calm her down, to no effect.  He then ordered Billings to drop the razor but Billings refused.  She moved toward Officer Lankford while holding the razor and said words to the effect that he would need to use his gun.  After refusing to drop the blade, Ms. Billings accelerated toward the officer to within four to six feet while holding the razor in her hand.  At that point Officer Lankford fired his service weapon four times, striking Ms. Billings three times in the torso. The fourth bullet lodged in the back of a sofa behind Ms. Billings.

In her taped telephone statement, made within minutes of the shooting, Smith described the incident to a family member.  Smith stated:  “Just because Heather hurt her arm again and was holding a razor blade...they shot her three times!.  [....]  The cop shot Heather three times.  Close up.... because she was holding a razor blade in her hand because she just cut her arm.”  The telephone statement confirms Officer Lankford’s statement--that Billings was armed with the razor blade at the time she was shot.  Smith never stated during this telephone call that Billings had put the razor blade down prior to being shot, as she later claimed when talking with the press.  The statement of the minor also confirms that Ms. Billings refused to drop the razor blade when ordered to do so by Officer Lankford.

The weight of the evidence, including Officer Lankford’s statement, the minor family member’s statement, and Smith’s original telephone statement, establish that Billings refused to drop the razor when ordered to do so, and that Billings did not drop the razor blade or set it down prior to the shooting.  According to witnesses at the scene, including the minor who was present, Smith picked up the razor blade from the floor after the shooting occurred.  Smith then placed the razor on a table after being ordered to do so by other officers who had arrived on the scene immediately after the shooting.

In her statement to the press Smith suggested that Lankford fired three times, the first while Billings was standing, and the second and third shots as Billings lay on the floor. However, a bullet consistent with those fired from Lankford’s gun was located in the back of the sofa in the living room.  The location of the bullet in the sofa is consistent with the gun having been fired from the position in the room where Lankford said he was standing. It is also consistent with Lankford’s statement that Billings was upright, and coming from between the sofa and coffee table when he fired.  The trajectory of the three bullets taken from Billings’ body are also consistent with Lankford’s account that Billings was upright at the time he fired.  In her statement to police, Smith estimated that Billings was approximately “four feet” from Lankford when Lankford fired.  Lankford estimated the distance at four to six feet.  The evidence establishes that Billings had moved toward Officer Lankford with the razor in her hand during this encounter.  She was accelerating toward Officer Lankford when he fired.  The forensic examination of Billings’ body and the physical evidence at the scene is consistent with the conclusion that Lankford fired a total of four shots in rapid succession as Billings accelerated toward him in an upright position.

Dr. Kelly Arthur, Forensic Pathologist, conducted an autopsy on Billings on March 19, 2008, beginning at 9:30 a.m.  Dr. Arthur concluded that the “Cause of Death” was “Multiple Gunshot Wounds of Chest (seconds).  She also found “Other Significant Conditions: Two incised wounds of left upper extremity; multiple scars on body consistent with prior self-injurious behavior; acute ethanol intoxication.”

The law of self defense is well established:  A person threatened with an attack that justifies the exercise of the right of self-defense need not retreat.  In the exercise of his right of self defense a person may stand his ground and defend himself by the use of all force and means which would appear to be necessary to a reasonable person in a similar situation and with similar knowledge.  This law applies even though the assailed person might more easily have gained safety by flight or by withdrawing from the scene.

Regarding the amount of force used to deter an imminent threat, the California Court of Appeals has stated:  “Where an attack is sudden and the danger is imminent a person may increase his danger by retreat.  In such case he may stand his ground and slay his attacker even though it be proved that he might have more easily gained safety by flight.  (Citation.) Necessity is deemed to exist when an innocent person is placed in sudden jeopardy. "[Where] the peril is swift and imminent and the necessity for action immediate . . . the law does not weigh in too nice scales the conduct of the assailed, and say he shall not be justified because he might have resorted to other means to secure his safety."

There is compelling evidence that Billings refused Officer Lankford’s lawful orders to stop and to drop the razor blade.  Ms. Billings had herself demonstrated just moments before, by slashing her own arm, that the utility-type razor blade was a deadly and dangerous weapon.  There is also compelling evidence that she approached Lankford in an altered state of mind with the intent to cause him harm.  It is clear that she approached him to within a distance of four to six feet, in a threatening manner, with a dangerous and deadly weapon.  She began to accelerate toward the officer.  At that point Officer Lankford’s options were limited.  Any attempt to flee the room would have required him to go over or around furniture and other items, or put himself in reach of his assailant and her blade.  The officer was not required to retreat.  Given the circumstances, attempting to do so could have subjected the officer and possibly others within the home (Smith and the minor) to additional risk of serious harm.

When Lankford fired his weapon he reasonably believed Billings intended to cut him with the razor, and that he or another person in the house would be seriously injured or possibly killed.  Officer Lankford reasonably believed that Billings posed a significant threat of harm to other persons who may have been inside the house, including Smith.  These fears were based on his own observations of Billings, her razor blade, her altered mental condition, the information he had been provided by Smith, other officers and 911 dispatch operators, and the reasonable inferences he drew from this information.  Officer Lankford reasonably inferred from Billings’ own injuries that she was capable of inflicting great bodily injury or death with the razor.  Officer Lankford also reasonably inferred that, based on Billings’ injuries, her refusal to drop the razor, and her advancement toward him, coupled with her statements to him about needing to use his gun, that an assault with the razor was imminent.

Based on the law and circumstances discussed above, Officer Lankford’s actions in the shooting death of Ms. Heather Billings on March 16, 2008, were legally justified.  Based on the totality of the circumstances, the use of deadly force, while tragic, was objectively reasonable. Officer Lankford acted in lawful self-defense and defense of others.  Accordingly, this office finds that no criminal charges are warranted.