King County Sheriff's deputies shot and killed Renee Davis, a 23-year-old pregnant woman living on the Muckleshoot Reservation, on Friday night. Davis had most recently worked as a teacher's aide at a Head Start program, the Seattle Times reports.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the deputies were there to check on Davis's welfare.
Davis's foster sister, Danielle Bargala, told the Seattle Times that Davis, who dealt with depression, had texted someone earlier in the night "to say she was in a bad way" and that person called law enforcement to check on her.
#ReneeDavis was a member of the Muckleshoot, a pregnant mother of three, & teacher's aid. #StopKillingEducators https://t.co/DLLTAbqmTC
— Jesse Hagopian (@JessedHagopian) October 23, 2016
"Deputies said the children were running around in the house but no one answered the door," the Sheriff's Office said in a statement released Friday night. "Two deputies entered the house to check the welfare of the woman and children. They found the woman inside the house armed with a handgun. Both deputies fired at the woman and she was struck at least once."
We must decriminalize mental illness! #ReneeDavis
— NDA, Ph.D (@TaliAuzenne) October 24, 2016
Bargala told the Times that she wasn't sure Davis owned a handgun, but that she had a hunting rifle. She also told the newspaper that the children running around the house were two of Davis's children, age 2 and 3.
#ReneeDavis has taken off on Twitter, connected to #SayHerName and #NativeLivesMatter. According to the Guardian's Counted project on police-involved shootings, police killings of Native Americans have doubled in 2015 and 2016.