Roger
The Ojai woman who attempted suicide with a firearm on Thursday was the family law attorney for the Pasadena man who killed his 5-year-old son and dumped his body near the same location in Lake Cachuma.
After a standoff for several hours, Rebecca Lizarraga was safely apprehended on August 23rd after discharging a firearm into the air and making threats to kill herself at Vista Point near Bradbury Dam. She was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment and evaluation.
This is the same location where the body of 5-year-old Aramazd ‘Piqui’ Andressian Jr. was found in July last year after he went missing two months earlier while in his father’s care.
Lizarraga was the family attorney who represented Piqui’s father, Aramazd Andressian, in his contentious divorce that helped him win back custody of his son just one week before the boy was murdered. This incident took place on the one-year anniversary of Andressian being sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for murdering his son, reports Fox 11 News.
Update by Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff’s Deputies Detain Armed Suicidal Subject Near Bradbury Dam
Shortly after 6 p.m. tonight, August 23, 2018, Sheriff’s deputies detained an armed suicidal subject near Bradbury Dam. The incident began just after 3:45 p.m. when a family member called 9-1-1 to report that 50-year-old Rebecca Lizarraga of Ojai was suicidal and possibly armed in the Lake Cachuma area. Through investigative means, Sheriff’s deputies located Lizarraga’s vehicle at Vista Point near Bradbury Dam. They determined she was located in a secluded cove and was in possession of a firearm. A Santa Barbara County Sheriff/Fire Air Support helicopter responded and observed her fire several shots into the air.
Sheriff’s deputies assisted by County Park Rangers secured the area. Due to the public safety threat, boat activity near the incident was diverted and the Lake Cachuma Boat Ramp was closed. Sheriff’s deputies attempted to establish communications with the distraught female. The Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Team and Hostage Negotiations Team responded. Air Support provided critical information on the suicidal subject’s activities to deputies on the ground.
While Hostage Negotiations Team members communicated with Lizarraga, she continued to threaten to harm herself and discharged her firearm. Ultimately, Special Enforcement Team members were able to use less lethal impact weapons to take her into custody.
Lizarraga was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment and evaluation. The Sheriff’s Office will forward the case to the District Attorney’s Office with the recommendation that she be charged with illegal and reckless discharge of a firearm.
Shots fired near Bradbury Dam, suicidal female with a gun fired 2 shots barricaded, not sure of exact location. This was the last known location by me…SWAT Responding.
She is a possible resident of Cachuma Village.
SBSO approached the female she fired no one was hit.
Warning shots..
Command Post set up at the entrance to Bradberry dam…
I don’t want to say too much………. Be aware of what is going on and stay away from the area…
Female has the gun does not want to hurt anyone will shoot herself if she is approached.
Everyone is off the lake entrance blocked…
I feel so bad for all the sucidal people. It’s a harsh world. I think we will continue to see a rise in suicides they way things are going. Hope she changes her mind.
She fired another shot in the water…
Female being loaded up and transported to the Harbor..
Roger over and out…
A beautiful place to end it all, if that’s your last sight on Earth.
I drove by at 4:50 PM. On the way north, I was passed by several cars and a van with lights flashing. One had a siren; the others did not. They looked like ordinary vehicles. The lights were like any other vehicle would have, but they were obviously set up for flashing. They were in a hurry, but not hell-bent-for-leather. As I passed the turn off to the dam overlook, I saw the vehicles stopped at the first place people normally stop for viewing the lake. That is about 100 yards from the highway. Something was certainly going on. Ed Hat has the answers!
They definitely dld not need an armored vehecle if had she been throwing cupcakes. However, she was delirious/unhinged and firing off shots. Hopefully she is doing better today.
Who ever feels that the Sheriffs Department over reacted to this incident the next time there is a woman who looks harmless firing a gun who is suicidal you respond to the incident without armour unarmed and ask her to give you the gun…They had to use Less Lethal to take her down she did not give up.. I think they did a great job stopping this woman from shooting herself or anyone else for that matter. She stated she did not want to hurt anyone other than herself but she was firing shots she could have hit someone it doesn’t matter if it was in the air or in the water stray bullets kill people almost everyday it happens.
Always impressed by the PD in situations like this…they have to switch from trying to shoot the person to empathy in the blink of an eye. Props.
So now she might have to face jail time or fines or both to add to her woes. Hope the courts show empathy in this case and choose to require treatment in lieu of criminal charges, if that’s an option.
Roger, wish I could give you multiple up votes for that comment! Very well said.
Did they really need the ARMORED Vehicle and SWAT for this poor woman !!!
Maybe the woman had a change of heart about suicide. Otherwise wouldn’t she have just done it instead of firing off random shots? Hope she gets the help she obviously needs.
Ohhhhhhh…. wow I know this woman’s name. She was a family court lawyer who defended – and vehemently publicly campaigned – for a dangerous man to continue to have unsupervised access to his son despite intense pleading and community support for the mom begging the court to keep the child safe. Within a week of Lizarraga helping this man gain unsupervised access… he killed the child. She knew he was dangerous. Reports are she went above and beyond her duty as his family court lawyer… I’m not remotely surprised she’s over the edge about the outcome but I’m having a hard time, honestly, being as sympathetic as I normally am for suicidal situations. I imagine right now that child’s mother isn’t too far off from wanting to go this same road…
Search “Piqui Andressian Jr” and this will all make a lot more sense. He was the little five year old they found dumped at this very same area about a year ago after he’d gone to Disneyland with his father and then disappeared. The father eventually confessed months later and led them to where he’d left the boy propped up against a tree. This woman’s law website actually promise to “zealously” represent her clients. Unfortunately there isn’t much there claiming to put the safety and best interest of children at the forefront. I can only hope she does a 180 and spends the rest of her life zealously advocating for children in the family court process instead.
A person who is truly suicidal has nothing to lose and is a risk of harm to anyone trying to stop them.
Thanks for the “throwing cupcakes” comment. I laughed so hard.
Roger: Thank you for the minute-by-minute stellar reporting. Always appreciate your detailed accounts.
SanYsidro maybe you should read up on a lawyer’s duties to their client. One is zealous advocacy. The child wasn’t her client. In this situation, obviously, her duties conflicted with her moral compass leading to the unfortunate and sad mental state she is now in. Maybe you should have some sympathy, an attorney’s job is not easy especially when you represent undesirables – who also have the same right to zealous representation. Sad to see your “sympathy”, which seems to be rooted in judgment, can’t reach every situation, which means it’s not really sympathetic at all
Is there a movie in the works? Surely she wouldn’t have done this to become a more sympathetic character? She did not shoot herself, she shot the lake.