Note: This story contains a description of suicide. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
When Longview, Washington, police drove to a call involving Katelyn Rose Smith in January, officers had already learned from dispatchers that she was suicidal and her partner was stopping her from picking up a gun.
But when they arrived, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Western Washington, they drew their guns and told him to let Smith go. Smith ran inside, grabbed an unloaded gun and confronted the officers. The police fired 23 shots and killed her.
Smith’s family is now suing the department for her wrongful death on Jan. 1. They allege officers escalated an already tense situation and created a deadly scenario through their actions.
“Proper training and common sense should tell an officer to not let a person in a mental health crisis access a gun,” Mark Lindquist, an attorney representing the family, told OPB.
Longview Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit names three officers: Elijah Heston, Dylan Fletcher and Caitlyn Woolcott-Rose. All three still work for the agency, state law enforcement records show. Heston has been an officer in Washington for six years, state records show, while Fletcher and Woolcott-Rose started two years ago.
Smith was 29 at the time. Her two young children are in Smith’s mother’s care.
According to the lawsuit, Smith had already prompted police calls for suicidal behavior. Her partner had previously called for help June 9, 2023, that led her to be involuntarily committed at a local hospital.
During the call on Jan. 1, 2024, Smith’s partner told dispatchers he needed help barring her from the firearms inside his house. He told dispatchers Smith had been drinking and was hitting and biting him. She reportedly said she wanted to shoot herself.
At one point during the 911 call, according to the 51-page lawsuit, Smith’s partner said she was eating dirt and drinking household chemical cleaner she found outside.
The lawsuit stated that officers, before arriving, asked dispatchers if the guns in the house were secured. The dispatcher responded “Negative, the male stated there are firearms in the house he was trying to keep her away from.”
When three officers showed up, the suit said, they “repeatedly ordered” Smith’s partner to “back away from her.” The officers had also drawn their guns as they approached the couple.
“Without taking any steps to secure Ms. Smith themselves, they directed (her partner), at gunpoint, to let her go,” the lawsuit said. When he did so, Smith ran inside and grabbed an unloaded handgun.
“They made no attempt to stop her,” the lawsuit said. “Instead, they took up positions outside the home’s entrance with weapons drawn, waiting for her to come outside,” the lawsuit said.
Heston, the most senior officer at the scene, initially toted a 40-millimeter, less-lethal munition to the scene. Such weapons are designed to incapacitate a person without killing them and are often used in cases involving people in behavioral health crises.
However, after Smith went inside, Heston holstered the munition and drew his handgun instead, the lawsuit said.
When Smith exited the house, the lawsuit said, she held an unloaded handgun. Heston, Fletcher and Woolcott-Rose all opened fire. They struck Smith 11 times, hitting her leg, abdomen, chest and head.
Lindquist, in an interview, said the police officers’ actions amounted to “officer-created jeopardy.” He contended that officers had the opportunity to de-escalate the situation.
“What’s shocking about the case is the officers were fully informed by dispatch before they arrived at the scene, and yet they still screwed it up,” Lindquist said. “They knew she was in a mental health crisis, they knew she was trying to get a gun. They made it happen.”