Woman Charged With Attempted Murder of 8 Officers After Richmond Police Shooting
A Richmond woman accused of shooting and wounding a police officer during a mental health crisis call last week was charged Wednesday with the attempted murder of eight officers, among a slew of other felony charges.
Jasmine Robinson, 39, faces 19 total felonies, including possessing an assault weapon and shooting at an occupied vehicle after she fired multiple rounds of gunfire at law enforcement officials during an altercation near the border of Richmond and El Cerrito.
Robinson made her initial court appearance on Thursday, where her arraignment was delayed for two weeks. She remains in custody at the West County Re-Entry, Treatment, and Housing facility on a $10.4 million bond.
Just before 7 p.m. on Sept. 3, Contra Costa County’s A3 crisis response team responded to Robinson’s home on the 2200 block of Key Boulevard to check on her mental health. Richmond Police accompanied the behavioral health team as backup support, police said.
According to Police Chief Timothy Simmons, Robinson struck and injured Officer Justin Church “almost immediately” after arriving at the residence, and continued to fire “numerous rounds,” including at other law enforcement officers, after barricading herself in her home.
Church, a 20-year veteran of the department, was released from the hospital on Friday after being treated for nonfatal injuries.
Gunfire also struck multiple neighboring residences and vehicles, including a patrol car that was shot at six times while an officer was inside.
The Richmond Police Department’s SWAT team and Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene to assist and were able to arrest Robinson after officers deployed “chemical agents,” and she made a brief attempt to flee.
The shooting was the second involving Contra Costa County law enforcement within a few hours last Thursday. On Wednesday, Pittsburg Police officers packed the Contra Costa County superior courthouse for the arraignment of Michael Sanchez Gardner Martin, who’s charged with sneaking a firearm into the city’s police station and attacking and shooting an officer while he was being booked on an unrelated charge.
KQED’s Maria Fenanda Bernal contributed to this report.