The family of a Rosemead woman fatally shot by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in February while experiencing a mental health episode filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the county, its sheriff and various deputies, alleging in federal court that the shooting was “senseless and unjustified.”
Susan Lu, 56, was shot and killed by deputies from the LASD’s Temple station on Feb. 27, after officers responded to a neighbor dispute call, which was subsequently updated to a woman attempting to light the neighbor’s house on fire, according to a sheriff’s department statement issued following the shooting.
“LASD deputies came to Ms. Lu’s home when she was having a mental health crisis,” Paul Hoffman, the family’s attorney, said in a press release. “After several hours of surrounding the home with numerous deputies, the LASD obtained a warrant to enter Ms. Lu’s home forcibly. They did so and almost immediately fatally shot her.”
According to LASD, deputies arrived at the scene and attempted to contact Lu, but she ran into her home. A mental evaluation team responded and attempted negotiations for hours without success. After detectives obtained a search and arrest warrant for Lu on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, they encountered the woman inside her home, armed with a meat cleaver, the sheriff’s department stated.
“A deputy gave Lu several verbal commands to drop the meat cleaver, but she refused,” the LASD statement said, adding that so-called less-lethal rounds were fired in an unsuccessful attempt to subdue the woman.
“Lu raised the meat cleaver toward deputies and a deputy-involved shooting occurred,” the department stated.
Lu was struck by gunfire and retreated into a closet, LASD said.
“Deputies immediately approached Lu and rendered first aid until the arrival of Los Angeles County Fire Department personnel,” according to the department. “Lu was subsequently transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced deceased.”
According to the lawsuit, Lu’s siblings were at the scene for hours begging deputies not to kill their sister and explaining she had mental health issues.
The family’s lawyer contends that although the LASD had mental health professionals at the scene, they used an “exaggerated version of the incident” between Lu and her neighbor to convince a judge to allow the forced entry into the house that led to the shooting, “even though Ms. Lu presented no danger to herself or others,” Hoffman said.
The deputies’ conduct “demonstrated the inadequacy of their training and policies relating to dealing with mentally disabled or disturbed suspects,” according to the suit, which seeks changes in LASD procedures involving suspects suffering from mental health issues.
“We are deeply saddened, heartbroken, and outraged that our sister, Susan Lu, was senselessly shot multiple times and killed in her own home because she was experiencing mental health challenges,” Lu’s family said in a statement. “We demand justice for her, and we hope this tragic loss will serve as a wake-up call to prevent similar tragedies from happening to others in mental health crisis.”
Lu was the owner of a clothing store in downtown Los Angeles, and worked to support her 18-year-old college-student son, the family said.
A message sent to an LASD representative seeking comment was not immediately answered.