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Woman Killed in Police Standoff Believed Officers Would 'Kidnap, Rape and Murder' Her

  Police gunned down an armed woman with a history of mental illness on Wednesday morning who believed the officers meant her severe harm. B...

 Police gunned down an armed woman with a history of mental illness on Wednesday morning who believed the officers meant her severe harm.

Betty Jane Tibaldi, 54, of Pocono Township, Pennsylvania, reportedly fled her home on Tuesday night and engaged in a prolonged flight from police she believed were going to kidnap, rape, and murder her. She eventually became embroiled in an hours-long standoff with police, firing a handgun in their direction before being killed when the officers fired back, the Associated Press reported.

Tibaldi had a history of mental issues, including schizophrenia, stepson Joseph Tibaldi told investigators, for which she had refused to take medication. She also had a history of conflict with the police, having once been escorted out of a hotel in Long Island by a SWAT team in the midst of a mental health episode in 2017.

woman killed by police
A Pennsylvania woman was killed by police after getting into an armed standoff with officers she believed would harm her. This photo shows a police car behind police tape in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 26, 2018..


One of Tibaldi's persistent fixations, according to her husband, Nello Tibaldi, was her belief that police officers "routinely kidnap, rape, and murder people," a belief that led directly to her situation on Wednesday morning. One negotiator who spoke with her during the standoff said that she was "rambling with paranoid delusions and religious ideas relative to the devil and the portals of hell." Negotiators also had Tibaldi speak with a relative who encouraged her to stand down, but she reportedly "interpreted this as him being held hostage."

Nello Tibaldi was involved in the standoff for several hours before choosing to surrender, leaving his gun in the vehicle with his wife, who was not legally allowed to possess a gun. He reportedly called the firearm "their final form of protection from police" when asked why he did not throw it from the truck altogether.

Tibaldi's husband is charged with felony firearm possession and recklessly endangering officers. He was booked at Monroe County jail and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.


In July, a Texas man was subdued after a lengthy standoff with police after neighbors reported that he had been "acting strange" and "walking around with what appeared to be a large gun." The man, Omar Soto-Chavira, was subdued non-fatally after officers deployed gas and a robot (details on the kind of robot was have not been released).

One officer, Sergeant Josh Bartlett, was shot and killed during the standoff. Another, Levelland Police Sergeant Shawn Wilson, required surgery for a gunshot wound and was in stable condition soon after.

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