Family identifies Seattle woman killed by police

(Update: Family identifies woman shot by police, criticize officers’ actions)

SEATTLE (AP) – A 30-year-old woman who Seattle police say they shot and killed after she came after officers with a knife has been identified by relatives as Charleena Lyles, the Seattle Times reports.

Police spokesman Detective Mark Jamieson says the woman had called police to report the burglary Sunday morning.

As two officers responded to the woman’s fourth-floor apartment near Magnuson Park in northeast Seattle, police say she came at the officers with a knife.

The Times reports (http://bit.ly/2sNk2nM ) that both officers fired their weapons. The woman was hit several times and died just inside the apartment.

No officers were injured.

Family members tell the Times that the shooting was unnecessary and that race was a factor. The Seattle Police Department tells the Times that both officers are white.

“Why couldn’t they have Tased her? They could have taken her down. I could have taken her down,” Monika Williams, the dead woman’s sister, tells the Times.

Three children who were inside the apartment at the time. They have been taken into protective custody.

Jamieson says detectives are investigating. He says the woman was known to officers.