BREAKING: ‘ER’ actress shot and killed by police

A former actress on the medical drama “ER” was fatally shot by police after she displayed what officers reportedly believed was a firearm during a welfare check.

The South Pasedenan reports that Vanessa Marquez, 49, described as a disabled woman, was shot and killed by officers performing a welfare check.

Lt. Joe Mendoza of the L.A. Sheriff’s homicide bureau told the South Pasdenan that the woman’s landlord had called to report that she was distraught and in some kind of trouble. Police had reportedly gone to her home multiple times in the past.

When responding officers arrived, the woman reportedly pulled a “BB-type” gun on the police, prompting an officer to fire at her, presumably believing that it was a firearm.

“At the time [of the shooting] there was an LA County mental health clinician here with the officers,” Lt. Mendoza said in a news conference on Thursday evening.

“They began to communicate with her, she became very uncooperative and during that contact she armed herself with a handgun, she pointed it at the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred.”

The sheriff’s lieutenant reportedly said that the fake gun she produced “resembled a semi-automatic handgun.”

Vanessa Marquez was once a series regular on the NBC hospital drama “ER”, and appeared in multiple films including “Stand and Deliver.”

According to the report, Marquez was shot once in the torso and treated briefly at the scene before being rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The actress reportedly wrote on her Facebook page that she had been struggling with Celiac disease and seizures.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the shooting.

CrimeOnline will provide further updates once more information is available.