Deputies shoot, kill 91-year-old woman after she opens door holding shotgun

VICTORVILLE, Calif. — Investigators are trying to find out why a 91-year-old woman is dead after a deputy-involved shooting.

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Police said Betty Francois, of Victorville, California, died Monday after being shot by a member of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, KTTV reported.

The department said they were responding after a caller said someone was trying to break into a home in the Spring Valley Lake community Saturday morning.

The caller was later identified as Francois, the Victorville Daily Press reported.

“Deputies arrived and a woman, later identified as Betty Francois, came out the front door of the home armed with a shotgun. Deputies gave her commands to drop the gun, then she pointed the gun at the deputies, and a deputy-involved shooting occurred,” the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

Family members said Francois was 91 and was legally blind and deaf, KTTV reported.

There was no sign of an intruder and officials said that Francois lived alone, the Daily Press reported.

The Sheriff’s Specialized Investigations Division is investigating, the newspaper reported.


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