A Birmingham police officer used less-lethal force on a woman during a struggle between the two before the woman was fatally shot, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency officials said on Thursday.
Vanessa Ragland, 36, died at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, less than an hour after she was shot by a Birmingham police officer.
The shooting happened shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday inside a home in the 600 block of Brunson Avenue.
Birmingham police said officers were dispatched to a report of a “violent person” with possible weapons inside a home.
“During the course of the incident, an officer with the Birmingham Police Department encountered a confrontational individual within the residence,” later identified as Ragland, said ALEA Capt. Jeremy Burkett.
“Ragland engaged the officer, forcing the officer to use less-lethal force in an attempt to gain control of Ragland,” Burkett said.
“A combative Ragland continued to fight with the officer, ultimately causing the officer to discharge their firearm striking Ragland.”
Officers put out a max-emergency alert, initially drawing officers from throughout the city to the neighborhood.
Ragland was taken to UAB Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 6:09 p.m.
Burkett said Ragland was unarmed at the time but said he does not have any additional information concerning the specifics of the confrontation between Ragland and the officer.
Ragland’s parents on Thursday declined to comment on the shooting. They said they were obtaining a lawyer.
A woman who identified herself as Ragland’s cousin said Ragland was autistic. She said a domestic argument was taking place at the home and Ragland tried to intervene to protect her mother from being arrested.
Ragland, the woman posted, grabbed the police Taser to “protect her mom.”
“They got her to calm down,” the woman wrote. “As she try (sic) to hand the officer the Taser back, they shot her (three) times and killed her in front of her mom and dad.”
Investigators have not commented on the relative’s account of what took place.