Alex Gutierrez called his youngest girl after leaving work early on a March evening and grinned as she entered to greet him.
She often had a good time and was pumped up, but this time she actually hammed it away, hugging and kissing the bottle of Propel Fitness Ocean he’d brought home from the store. It seemed only appropriate for a woman who was always moving to choose it as her favourite.
The 67- yr- ancient La Puente person laughed at his teen’s performance, subsequently headed outside to take a nap.
In the past, 17- yr- ancient Johanna Gonzalez had struggled with mental health problems, hearing tones and flying into unrestrained matches and bouts. However, today appeared to be a great time.
Finally, around 7 p. m. Gutierrez woke up to the sound of angry tones. Johanna screamed at her family, therefore flew out of the house. The teen ran a mile away from the closest sheriff’s station because the night was now dark.
When a deputy approached the door, she banged on it while leaving the deputy’s right leg exposed as he answered, stretching his right arm across his system toward the control.
Without fear, Johanna plucked the weapon out of its sheath, kicking off a challenge. The Times reviewed the incident’s leaked video, which showed the lieutenant punching the girl double, apparently in an ill-fated attempt to calm her.
Less than 20 hours later, Johanna shot herself in the scalp. She died on the floor of the Industry Sheriff’s Station.
” It’s just unbelievable”, Gutierrez told The Times in an interview. ” How may a 17- year- aged girl thus easily subdue a sheriff’s deputy”?
More than a fortnight later, that’s one of the numerous unanswered questions about what happened that evening inside the coroner’s station. Johanna’s families have concerns about the deputy’s education. The mother’s attorney wants to know the officer’s name. Additionally, a number of section members have inquired as to why his weapon was n’t greater secured and what kind of pouch he was using.
Department officials have said much publicly, but a few weeks after the woman’s death, they sent an email reminder to all representatives, instructing them not to use illegal revolvers or arms. The ministry said in a statement to The Times that” several pieces of evaluation” are being conducted, including an internal administrative investigation, despite officials ‘ refusal to provide a variety of answers for this story, including the deputy’s brand and whether he was wearing an approved pouch.
The Department provided our Psychological Services to our employees because they were “extremely distraught,” according to the statement. In this challenging time, our thoughts are with the family.
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Almost from the beginning, Johanna had a tough life. She was born in 2006 in North Carolina, the youngest of three children in a family that moved often. Her elderly father appeared to be in danger of losing custody of her while her mother was deported to El Salvador and she was unable to walk. So the children’s aunt and uncle — Miriam and Alex Gutierrez — took in all three kids.
In their ranch-style home in a working-class neighborhood of La Puente, the couple already lived independently, with a papaya tree in the front and a rubber tree in the back. Alex was a truck driver while Miriam worked as a seamstress. And Alex and Miriam adopted two more children from a different family member a few years after the Gonzalez children were born.
” We always wanted a big family”, Miriam said.
For a time, they had it.
Johanna called the Gutierrezes “mom and dad” because they were the only parents she actually knew. From a young age, she was adventurous and always in motion — gardening, doing chores, asking to tag along with her parents for simple errands. She had a passion for running and skating, and she had a paramedic dream.
But as Johanna moved into her teens, she started having trouble. She still did well in school, getting mostly A’s and B’s. And she remained her typical, ebullient self at home. At night, though, she started slipping out the window to meet an older man.
What Johanna initially thought the relationship was, but Alex is direct when describing it now, saying that he was abusing her and turning her into drugs.
But he and Miriam did n’t find out about it for years.
In the meantime, Johanna started having mood swings and what Miriam described as “episodes”. Sometimes, she told her family she heard voices — and occasionally they’d catch her in her room, talking to them. A doctor eventually suggested that their daughter might have schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but since she was only a few months old, it was difficult to say for sure if she had been diagnosed.
After confessing to a cousin about her nighttime departures, Johanna’s odd behavior began to make sense. Johanna, then 15, could n’t stay outside at night until Alex learned of it.
But that did n’t put an end to the problems. Johanna allegedly made an allegation of sexual abuse against a man the Gutierrezes had let live in the den, according to Alex and Miriam. Johanna and her siblings were soon removed by child welfare workers. The other children were almost immediately permitted to return, according to Miriam and Alex. However, Johanna chose to reside in a locked hospital where she could receive care.
She appeared more stable after taking medication. The man who’d abused her was eventually arrested and sentenced to probation, her parents said. Miriam visited Johanna whenever she had the chance, even when she was residing elsewhere. Johanna was well-educated enough to return home for an extended visit at the beginning of the year.
However, Johanna and her mother got into a fight about when she would be able to repair her broken phone on March 24. She yelled that she wanted to leave and that she wanted to hit a police officer and go to jail.
Hoping to calm her, Miriam called Johanna’s brother Daniel, 19, and put the call on speakerphone. Johanna told him she’d rather die than go back to the facility.
Just before 7: 30 p. m. she ran out the front door, her father said. He called 911 for help finding her. He claimed he had informing the dispatcher that Johanna reportedly appeared to be having some sort of episode and that she had a history of mental health issues.
Meanwhile, her mother followed her and drove a little further back in the car to avoid getting too close and indignant. She greeted Johanna as she entered the sheriff’s station and began knocking on the door.
Miriam waited outside while her daughter waited, hoping to calm her down before following her in.
Deputies responding to the 911 call were already speaking with Alex at the family home. He told them what happened, said his daughter needed a mental health evaluation. The deputies listened. But they abruptly told Alex they needed to leave when their radios suddenly started to play.
Back at the station, the fire department arrived, and Miriam heard the hum of a helicopter overhead.
Then, a deputy approached the vehicle and inquired,” Is your daughter inside?” Before he informed her that Johanna was dead, it took forty-five minutes.
Stunned, Miriam followed him inside and waited for her husband to arrive. The couple hoped for answers, but instead, they said, the deputies separated them for questioning. Little was returned by the deputies.
Six weeks later, they still have n’t.
One thing Johanna’s parents did get was a chance to see surveillance footage from inside the sheriff’s station. However, Alex and Miriam were against doing that in their daughter’s memories. So instead, the family’s attorney — Delaney Miller — watched it, along with Johanna’s older brother.
To Miller, the footage was grueling to watch. Afterward, he had more questions. He was still curious about the deputy’s identity and how a 17-year-old girl could grab his gun so easily. He questioned why the deputy appeared to have let his guard down when he opened the door, though.
” She was banging at the door for 30 seconds, and they’d already received a call about someone fitting her description that was in distress”, Miller said. And it’s disturbing how this door was opened without making any effort to protect the holster. You anticipate that police officers will be prepared to handle any challenge and not to worsen things.
Some of the same concerns were raised by several departmental sources, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
One deputy claimed that “he should have opened the door with his non-gun hand.” We have been trained to protect our gun from anyone who crosses our path.
After reviewing the video of his sister’s passing, Daniel realized that these worries were n’t the ones that most stayed with him.
” I could see how much pain she was in”, he said. ” I just watched her face”.
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A month and a half after Johanna’s death, her family still feels her presence. Their living room is covered in her image. Sometimes, fleetingly, Daniel almost thinks he can hear her voice.
Just inside the entryway, the family created a shrine they planned to leave up for 40 days. In case her soul becomes thirsty, it had water, candles to guide her soul, and pictures to remember her. Breaking with tradition, there was also a cup of Propel.
Alex was aware that he was experiencing evaporation at work as he watched the liquid go away more frequently each day. But a part of him still hoped: Maybe it was her.
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