California reserve officer shoots, kills woman by accident, police say. DA to review case
A woman is dead after a shooting incident involving a reserve police officer and another man that Tulare police officers described as an accident.
The killing happened about 11:30 a.m. Friday on Cottonwood Street southeast of Pratt Street and Bardsley Avenue, according to police.
Two men — one a reserve officer and the other a bounty hunter — were sitting in a car with the woman outside of one of the men’s homes, police said. One of them was handling a firearm and the gun discharged, striking the woman.
Police did not say who was handling the gun and did not provide the names of the men involved. The reserve officer works in another county, police said, and he was off duty at the time of the deadly shooting.
When officers arrived, police said, the men were rendering aid to the injured woman, who later died. Police identified her as Lorena Suarez, 31, of Huron.
Officers searched the area of surveillance video and both men were taken to the Tulare Police Department for questioning, police said.
The case has been forwarded to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office for review, police said.
