Woman Shot After Threatening Police with Handgun Identified

By Bay City News—

A 62-year-old woman who was killed in an officer-involved shooting in Hayward Tuesday night after she reportedly threatened an officer with what later turned out to be a replica handgun has been identified as Ariel Levy, police said Thursday.

[Related article: Police Say Woman Was Shot After She Threatened Officers with Handgun]

Officers responded to a multi-unit apartment complex in the 21700 block of Foothill Blvd. at about 7:15 p.m. to check on the welfare of a woman living in an apartment who had made several 911 calls that evening, police investigators said.

Officers were told that Levy might be suffering from depression, investigators said.

Two Hayward police officers arrived and contacted Levy. While speaking with her, she displayed a handgun "in a threatening manner," Hayward police Sgt. Eric Melendez said.

Officers retreated to the parking lot of the complex while ordering Levy to drop the weapon, according to Melendez.

Levy reportedly advanced toward the officers and when she refused to drop her gun, an officer, who had been with the department for one year, fired his duty weapon at her, investigators said.

Following the shooting, investigators learned that the handgun in Levy's possession, a silver-colored semi-automatic pistol, was only a replica.

Emergency personnel transported Levy to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Investigators said Levy had been living with her adult son at the Summerwood apartment complex and she had called police numerous times in distress about the recent arrest of her son for narcotics possession and assault weapon violations.

The night of the shooting Levy had contacted police about her son's arrest and felt that police had mistreated her, investigators said.

A search warrant served at Levy's apartment following the shooting, recovered a handwritten note by Levy indicating that she wanted to end her life over her recent family troubles, according to police investigators.

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