Yuma police say prosecutors have determined that an officer's decision to shoot a woman during a domestic violence call last month was justified.
Yuma County Attorney Jon Smith wrote in a letter to the police chief Wednesday that Officer Joseph Van Horn had responded to a domestic violence call in the parking lot of an agriculture business, where he and another officer toppled Lisa Rivera after she charged toward her husband.
Smith says Van Horn opened fire after discovering Rivera was holding a gun and after she had pointed it at him.
According to Smith's letter, the couple worked at the business and were getting a divorce. A co-worker of theirs said Rivera had threatened to kill her husband and herself.
Officers later discovered that her gun wasn't loaded.
