A hatchet-wielding woman who was shot twice and killed by police at a Walmart store in Wisconsin has been identified as a resident of a developmentally disabled facility.
Police were called to the Walmart Supercenter in Lake Hallie on Friday night and confronted the woman who reportedly lunged at an officer with the hatchet after being ordered several times to put it down.
Lake Hallie Police Department identified the woman as Melissa M. Abbott, 25, according to the
Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, a resident at the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled in Chippewa Falls.
Abbott was in the store with employees of the center when she reportedly became upset. They tried to get Abbott to leave but she went into the lawn and garden center, said Chippewa County Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk.
When officers arrived, she had armed herself with a hatchet from the sporting goods section, reported
WEAU-TV.
Abbott was shot once in the leg and in the right upper abdomen.
"Lifesaving efforts were performed at the scene by the Chippewa Fire District and a medical professional who happened to be in the store," said WEAU-TV. "The woman was transported by the Chippewa Fire District Paramedics to a hospital and underwent surgery. Abbott's death was reported at 11:58 p.m. …"
Lake Hallie police Chief Cal Smokowicz described the Northern Wisconsin Center as a state-operated intermediate facility for people with mental disabilities, said the Leader-Telegram. Abbott was dealing with cognitive disabilities, Smokowicz said.
"Our department strives to resolve issues in the least intrusive means possible however every situation is unique and complex," the Lake Hallie police department said in a statement. "Given the close proximity of other citizens and dangerous and threatening behavior of the subject the officer believed he had no other choice than to use deadly force."
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