Police say Canter had some mental health issues. A month ago, officers had a run-in with her. On Friday, police say she was swinging two 8-inch carving knives at them before she was first shot with a Taser, then a gun.
Canter doesn't have a significant criminal past, but police say recently she has been acting strange and doing very unusual things. On Friday afternoon, officers said she was dancing around and shouting before she locked herself into a friend's apartment in Northeast Fresno and refused to come out. Officers forced their way in and confronted her.
"She was swinging the knives back and forth when she said she was going to kill the officer," said Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer. "The second officer that had his handgun out felt that this officer was about to be stabbed, and he fired five rounds at the female."
Police say Canter was visiting a man on Friday when investigators say he asked her to leave, but she wouldn't listen. He wanted her to be arrested for trespassing. Officers said last month, they had another call involving Canter and her bizarre actions.
"We had a prior call back on February 15, at about 11 p.m., in the area of Shaw and Sixth, where a female was lying in the roadway," said Dyer. "She was lying in the roadway. She was acting bizarre or strange. She was taken out of the roadway, and she was turned over to medical personnel, and we had not had contact with her since that night."
Fresno police officers are hoping toxicology tests from an autopsy will give them more answers about Canter's mindset at the time of the confrontation. Of the bullets that hit Canter, two hit her in the upper body. Several witnesses have also given the same account as the officers about what happened and how the events unfolded.
