Vanessa Marquez who played in the 1990s NBC medical drama ER as Wendy Goldman (acted as a nurse for three seasons) was killed Thursday in an officer involved shooting in her home at South Pasadena. When officers arrived on the scene the officers said that she was having seizures and seemed to be have been suffering mental health issues. Marquez was 49 years old.
CNN reports that according to LA County Sheriff’s Department she was shot and killed by police. This happened when officer responded to her emergency medical call. This happened because after 90 minutes of attempting to offer Marquez medical help, policed noticed that she seemed to have armed herself with what looked to be a handgun; however, the weapon ended up being a BB gun.
LA Country Sheriff’s Office released a tweet about the incident. Here it is:
During a press conference later that day Lt. Joe Mendoza from LA Sheriff’s homicide bureau gave a description on what happened. He said that the officers were called to the scene by a landlord, who reported that the woman was in some sort of trouble. According to the South Pasadenan, officers had been called to the residence before for help.
Mendoza stated, “At the time [of the shooting] there was an LA County mental health clinician here with the officers. They began to communicate with her, she became very uncooperative, and during that contact she armed herself with a handgun, she pointed it at the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred.” He went on to say, Mendoza said, “was undergoing some medical problems, some seizures, it appeared that the female was gravely disabled.”
Marquez was in the headline this last year when she released a tweet that said Clooney, “helped blacklist me when I spoke up about harassment on ER.” Clooney then responded stating,”I had no idea Vanessa was blacklisted. I take her at her word. I was not a writer or a producer or a director on that show. I had nothing to do with casting. I was an actor and only an actor. If she was told I was involved in any decision about her career, then she was lied to. The fact that I couldn’t affect her career is only surpassed by the fact that I wouldn’t.”
Marquez was taken to a local hospital, but she was pronounced dead. This happened at around 1:48pm on 1100 block on Fremont Avenue.