The woman who led the Los Angeles Police Department on a pursuit and engaged in an hourslong standoff with officers on Memorial Day before being shot has been identified, and authorities now say she had a felony warrant.
A call regarding a possible shooting investigation came into LAPD around 7:15 a.m. Monday; the caller described seeing a white van with bullet holes in its windshield in the 13000 block of Sherman Way in the Valley Village neighborhood.
Officers responded and contacted the woman inside the van – later identified as Claudia Corugedo – and found she had a felony warrant out for her arrest. When they tried to detain her, Corugedo resisted, removed “what appeared to be” a black semiautomatic pistol and pointed it at her throat, LAPD said in a media release issued Wednesday.
As the officers went back to their vehicles to call for backup, Corugedo drove off, and a pursuit was initiated that ultimately terminated in the 20900 block of Arcana Road in Woodland Hills, approximately 14 miles away.
Corugedo, 42, became surrounded by officers after driving into a dead end, and she refused commands to surrender. According to LAPD, during the ensuing standoff, she continued to point the pistol at her throat, and it was learned that she had a large machete on her.
“A SWAT Team was requested; however, prior to their arrival, Corugedo began walking toward the front door of a residence while still holding the [weapons], and an officer-involved shooting occurred,” LAPD’s media release states. “Corugedo was struck by gunfire and collapsed near the entryway of the residence.”
She was taken into custody and treated by responding L.A. Fire Department paramedics at the scene before being transported to a hospital for further treatment.
Afterwards, she was booked for felony evading. Further investigation into the chase and standoff revealed that Corugedo was actually in possession of a BB gun designed to resemble a semiautomatic pistol; a machete was also recovered at the scene.
Corugedo did not appear in inmate search records in connection with Monday’s incident; however, the records indicate that she has been arrested by LASD twice in the past, both times for felony offenses in 2023.
In one case, she was cited and released, and in another, she spent just under two weeks in jail.
