Teen suffered 15 gunshot wounds, hospital report shows

Ashley MacDonald was shot multiple times, receiving up to 15 wounds, according to a copy of a Huntington Beach Hospital emergency room medical report released by her mother’s attorney.

Jerry Steering, who is representing MacDonald’s mother, Lisa Marie Guy, said he plans to file a lawsuit against the Huntington Beach police officers who shot MacDonald several times on Aug. 25 when she reportedly lunged at the officers while wielding a knife.

Judy Ricci, director of nursing and clinical services at Huntington Beach Hospital, where MacDonald was taken, refused to confirm or deny the authenticity of the medical report.

MacDonald received multiple gunshot wounds to the body, including her left thigh, hand and forearm, and several gunshots in the chest, according to the medical report. She was shot six times in the upper body, three times on each arm and other areas.

She was pale, with no pulse on arrival, according to the hospital medical report. Her pupils were dilated and fixed.

She was pronounced dead at 8.38 a.m., 26 minutes after she arrived at the hospital.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino said he did not know how many shots police fired. The sheriff’s department investigates officer-involved shootings for Huntington Beach and other cities.

MacDonald reportedly fought with her mother that morning, and Guy was cut on the hand. She left their Sher Lane apartment and walked to Sun View Park carrying a knife. When police were called to the park and ordered her to drop the knife, MacDonald continued advancing toward the officers, who opened fire, authorities said.

According to Guy, MacDonald was distraught that morning and told her mother told her she had been drugged and date-raped the night before.

“She was drunk and or raped by one or more men who fled to Oregon the next day,” Steering said. “She had a dinky knife in her hand. They [the police] could have moved away from her.”

Steering refused to give details about the rapists’ identities, saying he’s waiting for more information.

Amormino said the sheriff’s department was investigating reports that MacDonald had been drugged and date-raped.

“They have conflicting accounts of what happened,” Amormino said. It was a neighbor who informed the officers that this may have happened, Amormino added.

MacDonald was shot at least a couple of times in the upper body, but an autopsy will determine the number, Amormino said. The report is expected in couple of weeks.

Officers had been asked to use “less than lethal force” such as a pepper-ball gun or a bean-bag gun when they confronted MacDonald in the park, he said.

The names of the officers have not been released.

“I think it’s a disservice to the public,” Steering said. “They are there to serve the public, not murder them.”

Friends and neighbors have organized a candlelight protest at Huntington Beach Police Department Thursday night from 7 to 9 p.m.