Police Shoot Joshua Tree Woman For Not Putting Down Weapon

A Joshua Tree woman is in the hospital after deputies shot her Friday night, apparently ignoring commands to put her weapon down, according to deputies.

A spokesperson said deputies were conducting a welfare check for a woman who lived on the 4000 block of Polaris in Joshua Tree Friday morning when a man answered the door, armed with a shotgun, and told them to leave.

Deputies called additional help, and then heard another shot come from inside the home. The person emerged again from the home carrying the shotgun, ignored police commands to put the weapon down, and was shot by the deputies twice.

It was afterward the deputies learned it was a woman, not a man they had shot. She was rushed to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs for treatment.