An actress who appeared on the TV medical drama ER and starred in the film Stand and Deliver was fatally shot by police officers in Southern California after they say she pointed a replica handgun at them.
Vanessa Marquez, who gained attention last year when she said George Clooney helped blacklist her from Hollywood, died at a hospital following Thursday’s shooting at her apartment in South Pasadena, just outside Los Angeles.
South Pasadena police officers responded to a call from Marquez’s landlord that she needed medical help.
When they arrived she was having a seizure, police Lieutenant Joe Mendoza with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said on Friday.
Paramedics treated Marquez, 49, who improved, and began talking with three officers and a mental health clinician who spent an hour-and-a-half trying to talk her into getting medical help, Mendoza said.
Marquez became uncooperative, appeared unable to care for herself and seemed to have mental health issues, he said.
At some point, Marquez got what turned out to be a BB gun and pointed it at the officers, prompting two of them to shoot, Mendoza said.
“It looked like a real gun,” he said, adding that it is unclear where the gun was during her lengthy interaction with police.
The officers were wearing body cameras, but footage will not be released for at least six months pending the investigation, Mendoza said.
Terence Towles Canote, a close friend of Marquez’s, said the actress was having health and financial problems, but that she showed no signs of depression or other mental troubles.
She still talked about her dream of winning an Oscar one day and was hopeful for a career comeback, he said.
“She was looking forward to life,” Canote said.
“This is not a woman who wanted to die,” Canote said.
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