Home Scandal and Gossip ER actress suicide by cop: Bodycam video released as officers cleared

ER actress suicide by cop: Bodycam video released as officers cleared

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Vanessa Marquez actress shooting
Vanessa Marquez actress shooting. Screengrab of bodycam video.
Vanessa Marquez actress shooting
Vanessa Marquez actress shooting. Screengrab of bodycam video.

South Pasadena Police Officers Gilberto Carrillo & Christopher Perez acquitted: Bodycam video shows actress, Vanessa Marquez w/ fake gun pleading to be shot dead. 

Bodycam video has been released (see below) showing the moment ER star Vanessa Marquez was shot dead by cops after pulling out a replica gun and shouting ‘kill me’ during a welfare check at her home last August.

The release follows Los Angeles County District’s Office announcing on Monday their decision not to pursue legal action against two South Pasadena police officers, Officers Gilberto Carrillo and Christopher Perez who gunned down Marquez in August 2018 as matters quickly derailed after arriving at the house to conduct a welfare check. 

A report via the Pasadena Star News told of the DA’s office acquitting the officers who were found to have acted in self defense after Marquez initially pulled out a pair of scissors from a handbag and then what appeared to be a gun- which in fact was only a replica fake gun – and proceeded to threaten officers who feared for their lives.

‘In this incident, the evidence demonstrates that Carrillo and Perez actually and reasonably believed Marquez posed an imminent threat of great bodily injury or death,’ head deputy district attorney Shannon Presby wrote in a released memo cited by the Latimes.

Vanessa Marquez actress shooting: Suicide by cop

Released bodycam video shows Marquez, 49, sitting in her bedroom in cluttered ‘hoarding conditions’ after police officers were called to the property in South PasadenaCalifornia, by a concerned friend on August 30, 2018.

‘I’m not going,’ the actress is heard saying in the video after a pair of officers seek to take her into custody for her own safety. Video shows the troubled actress taking out a pair of scissors from a handbag, followed by pistol, which was later found to be BB gun.

‘Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, s**t, she’s got a gun. She’s got a gun. Gun! Gun! Gun!’ one of the officers can be heard saying. 

Police are observed backing out of the apartment.

Officers plead with Marquez to drop the gun while they wait at the bottom of the stairs. The actress appears on the steps holding the gun before the officers open fire. 

The dailymail reports twelve rounds being fired at Marquez — who was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead from wounds to the torso. 

Vanessa Marquez actress shooting
Vanessa Marquez actress shooting

Scared out of their minds: 

The release of the footage comes after Los Angeles County prosecutors yesterday decided not to file charges against South Pasadena Officers Gilberto Carrillo and Christopher Perez.

Shannon Presby, head deputy district attorney, wrote in a memo: ‘In this incident, the evidence demonstrates that Carrillo and Perez actually and reasonably believed Marquez posed an imminent threat of great bodily injury or death.’

Police later determined that the weapon Marquez had allegedly picked up was a realistic-looking BB gun. Indeed, when Marquez emerged from the apartment, Carrillo told investigators he heard the sound of a clip being inserted and a slide being racked.

Carillo said he was ‘scared out of his mind,’ when Marquez pointed the gun in their direction, The Los Angeles Times reported.

According to the Deputy DA’s memo around eight or nine rounds were fired from Carillo’s .40-caliber pistol through drywall, while the other officer fired his rifle at the actress.  

A subsequent investigation described officers arrived at Marquez’s residence an hour before the shooting started, with the actress screaming on seeing them and having a seizure. 

The messy conditions of her apartment, described by police as ‘in complete disarray due to hoarding conditions,’ were such that the officers struggled to open doors. 

Medical officers and the police had spent considerable time in trying to persuade Marquez that she needed medical help – before matters devolving.  

Police said, Marquez’s uncooperative state and apparent inability to care for herself led them to believe she was suffering from mental health issues

Vanessa Marquez actress shooting
Vanessa Marquez actress shooting

ER actress slide in health in later years as family sue police:

In the years leading up to her death, Marquez had been vocal on social media about her struggles with various health problems, including what she described as terminal celiac disease, pulmonary embolism, osteoporosis and seizures. 

In March 2018, she had written on Facebook that she was ‘terminally ill.’ 

Deputy DA Presby wrote in the memo: ‘Her intention, as evidenced by her final Facebook post, sadly appears to have been to end her life.’ 

Marquez had written: ‘there shooting cremate me pour ashes over Hollywood sign.’ It was posted three minutes before officers opened fire at 1.49pm. 

Officers Gilberto Carrillo and Christopher Perez’ acquittal follows Marquez’s family filing a $20million claim alleging negligence against the city of South Pasadena. 

Her mother, Delia McElfresh blamed the the actress’ death on poor tactics, negligence and overreaction by police who had no reason to use lethal action.  

‘This was mishandled from the minute the call came in and officers were dispatched to the home,’ Vicki Sarmiento, an attorney for McElfresh, told NBCLA in February 2019.

Previous accusations that preempted career: 

Marquez is best known for playing nurse Wendy Goldman on the popular NBC medical drama ER starring George Clooney between 1994 and 1997. 

In 2017, Marquez publicly accused the Oscar-winning actor and director of helping blacklist her after she spoke out about alleged harassment on the set of ER, including being subjected to racist and sexist remarks.

Clooney responded by insisting that he had no idea Marquez had been blacklisted and had played no part in it. 

‘I had nothing to do with casting,’ the Ocean’s 11 star said in a statement. ‘I was an actor and only an actor. If she was told I was involved in any decision about her career then she was lied to. The fact that I couldn’t affect her career is only surpassed by the fact that I wouldn’t.’

After leaving ER, Marquez appeared in three episodes of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in 1999, followed by a few more roles in TV films and shorts. 

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