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A 19-year-old woman brandishing a power drill was shot dead by a police officer in San Jose on Thursday, police said.
Police received a report that morning that a woman was threatening to kill her family with an Uzi assault weapon, San Jose Police spokeswoman Heather Randol said in a news release.
When they arrived at the family's home, they saw the woman outside, holding what they thought was a weapon, Randol said.
Officers asked her to drop it, but she did not, pointing it at them instead, Randol said. One of the officers, Wakana Okuma, shot the woman, who was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.
Randol said Okuma, who has been placed on administrative leave, "feared for her safety and the safety of the public" when she shot the woman.
Officers later realized the woman had been holding a cordless drill that was painted black, Randol said.
The Santa Clara County coroner's office declined to release the woman's name or provide any details about her death or condition.
The shooting is being investigated by San Jose homicide detectives, Randol said.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento; Editing by Eric Walsh)
