53-Year-Old Woman Shot, Killed by St. Petersburg Police Officer

Updated, 12:09 p.m. Monday:

Police have identified the woman who was killed in Sunday night's incident as Pamela Dale Kirk, 53. She was pronounced dead at Bayfront Medical Center at 9:22 p.m., a police spokesperson said.

The officer who shot Kirk is identified as Christopher Dolch, 38. Dolch was hired as a cadet in October 2006 and became a sworn officer two months later.

Dolch has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the various investigations into the incident.

According to police records. Kirk had been taken into custody under the Baker Act four times since 2010. The dates were July 16, 2010, Feb. 1, 2011, Feb. 3, 2011 and May 2, 2012. 

Police said on Feb. 1, 2011, Kirk's daughter called the St. Petersburg Police Department and asked officers to check on her mother, as she was depressed over a recent relationship break-up.

"The officers went to Pamela's home and found her calm and slightly intoxicated, but she was not taken into custody under the Baker Act at that time since she did not admit a desire to hurt herself or exhibit any behaviors that would justify taking her into custody under the Baker Act," wrote police PIO Bill Proffitt in a news release. 

At that time, police did take three firearms from her home as "safe keeping. 

Several hours later (February 1, 2011 at 6:54 p.m.) police responded again to Kirk's home after receiving a call from a woman who was crying and then hung up the telephone.

When the officers arrived at the home, Kirk declined to answer the door, but the officers heard her say, "where is my gun?  I'm grabbing my gun," police said.  

A few moments later, Kirk opened the front door but would not show her hands in response to the officers' verbal commands, and then she closed the door.

Officers heard Kirk crying inside of the house, according to police.  They called her home phone and she came to the front door and threw her telephone outside, then closed the door again. 

"A few moments later, she opened the front door again and stepped outside where she was taken into custody under the Baker Act after she made suicidal comments and said she no longer wanted to live," Proffitt said. 

Earlier:

A St. Petersburg Police officer shot and killed a woman who was pointing a gun at him while responding to a "welfare check" call Sunday evening.

According to the police report, two officers - a field training officer and a trainee - were dispatched to 2630 13th Ave. N. at around 8 p.m. after a person called to say she was concerned about a neighbor.

After knocking on the front door and getting no response, the back-up uniformed police officer went to the rear of the home and knocked on the back door.

According to the report, a woman standing inside the home near the back door raised a curtain on a large adjacent window and pointed a silver Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver at the back-up uniformed police officer.

The uniformed officer then fired his department-issued handgun three times through the window, striking the woman possibly three times in the chest area.

The woman was transported to Bayfront Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead a short time later.

Following the incident the woman was identified as a 53-year-old white female. Her name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, according to police.

The name of the officer involved in the shooting is also being withheld, per St. Petersburg Police Department policy.

Also per standard policy, the St. Petersburg Police Department and the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office will conduct an investigation into the shooting death of the woman.

Additionally, the Department's Internal Affairs Unit will conduct an administrative investigation as well.