Police Shoot, Kill Former ER Actress

Police shot and killed actress Vanessa Marquez on Thursday after she allegedly pointed a BB gun at officers, Variety reports. Officers arrived at the South Pasadena home of Marquez—who is best known for her role as nurse Wendy Goldman on ER—around noon to perform a welfare check, authorities tell CNN. The 49-year-old appeared to be having seizures and mental health issues. Paramedics and a mental health professional were called, according to reports, and officers spent about 90 minutes talking to Marquez and offering her medical help. At some point, she allegedly armed herself with what looked like a handgun, and officers shot her to death. The weapon was a BB gun, investigators say. Marquez was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Marquez appeared in 27 episodes of ER, and also appeared in the film Stand and Deliver and the series Malcolm & Eddie and Wiseguy, per Variety. Social media posts suggest it has been a turbulent time for Marquez. In January 2017, she wrote a long Facebook post that mentions harassment, medical problems, and allegations that her ER coworkers helped blacklist her. Late last year, she again alleged, this time via Twitter, that she had been blacklisted by ER costar George Clooney for complaining about harassment, Us Weekly reports. At that time, Clooney denied the allegations, saying, "The fact that I couldn't affect her career is only surpassed by the fact that I wouldn't." Marquez's Twitter account was later suspended, and in an Aug. 8 Facebook post, she alleged that it was suspended because she called out Clooney, a friend of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. (More police shooting stories.)