Woman Tries To Shoot And Kill Cops Who Were Helping Her With Her Dogs

A Clackamas County judge on Wednesday sentenced Yvette Lares Garcia to 10 years in prison for shooting at Gladstone police officers last year while they tried to help her with her two dogs.

An unusual chain of events led to the Nov. 22 shootout, according to court records and testimony.

Officer Clement Lau stopped Garcia, now 37, in his patrol car after she rolled through an intersection in Gladstone on that drizzly night. He then arrested Garcia, who’d just left a 24-hour fitness gym, after discovering she had a warrant in Texas for felony first-degree theft.

With the help of Sgt. Travis Hill, Lau took Garcia to the police department where, while handcuffed to a bench, she repeatedly said she was worried about her two dogs at home.

Hill and Lau were sympathetic; they offered to drive to her Happy Valley townhouse and take the dogs to animal control. Officers captured the arrest and what happened next on body-worn cameras.

The trio entered through the garage and then encountered two large, excited dogs — one gray and one black and white. Lau and Hill can be heard asking if the American Bully XL dogs were friendly. On camera, Lau takes the gray dog by the leash. Off camera, Garcia and Hill try to lure the other dog, saying “Wanna go for a walk?”

With her hands behind her back and in handcuffs, Garcia walked upstairs to get a leash. She grabbed a 9 mm handgun instead and fired at Hill, the video showed.

On the video, Hill can be heard screaming in pain as he retreats back down the steps. “Gun!” he yells. Lau fires up the steps, and Garcia can be heard yelping. “Drop the gun or you’ll be shot again,” Lau shouts.

“No” she says twice. She fires again.

Lau reloads, and a gunfight ensues. Lau asks for a tourniquet and a shield to get to Hill. When backup comes, Lau runs inside toward Hill, who is lying in a living room, bleeding from his leg. Garcia, who was shot multiple times, rests motionless on the stairs. She suffered severe injuries in her leg, spine, arm and abdomen, her lawyer said during a 10-hour release hearing in January.


Ten months later, Hill said the gunshot wounds forced him to leave his 20-year career in law enforcement.

Garcia shot him once in the arm and once just below the knee, causing permanent nerve damage to his leg and foot. He can also no longer go on bike rides or play on the trampoline with his three young children, he said in court.