Woman shot by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies dies

A Bay Area woman who led Sonoma County authorities on a high-speed pursuit that spanned 19 miles from Windsor to Sebastopol before its violent conclusion has died, succumbing to injuries incurred after she rammed three sheriff’s deputies with her car and was repeatedly fired upon in return, law enforcement officials said.

Karen Janks, 46, died late Friday afternoon at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. She apparently never regained consciousness in the wake of the shooting just after midnight Wednesday, leaving investigators to wrestle with a host of questions that begin with why she drove north in the first place and end with why she chose to drive the way she did.

Janks, who was first brought to the attention of law enforcement when a motorist saw her car traveling backward on northbound Highway 101 in Windsor, reportedly drove at speeds above 100 mph during the ensuing chase and sped down the freeway through Santa Rosa. She exited at Todd Road with her lights off, nearly colliding with another car, authorities said.

Six deputies involved in the 15-minute pursuit likely thought it was finally ending when she abruptly pulled into the parking lot behind the Antique Society mall on Highway 116 and stopped.

But when they ordered her to surrender, police said, she suddenly threw her car into reverse and struck three of the deputies, causing minor injuries and prompting four to begin shooting.

The deputies - identified by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office as Joel Pedersen, James Falberg, Lawrence Matelli and Daniel Edwards - have been put on paid administrative leave, which is routine in such cases.

Santa Rosa Police Lt. Rainer Navarro, whose department is investigating the now fatal shooting under a countywide critical incident protocol designed to ensure objective scrutiny of such cases, said detectives pursuing different investigative avenues were still in the preliminary stages and had not assembled a complete timeline of exactly who saw what.

But Navarro also said they are eagerly seeking civilian witnesses who may have seen any portion of the pursuit or its climax, or who otherwise had seen Janks and might be able to shed light on her actions.

“If there’s anybody that knows her, that may have been with her, that was associated with her at any time,” he said. “If anybody saw anything that happened during the pursuit or during the entire incident, they want them to call.”

Janks’ mother, Gail Janks of San Mateo, has described a string of recent personal challenges in her daughter’s life that may have contributed to her undoing.

Janks, 73, said her daughter, an optician, had lost her home in San Francisco and her job as office manager of a Noe Valley optometry office, then resettled in Santa Cruz only to encounter additional financial and employment uncertainty.

“It was a series of events that left her vulnerable,” Gail Janks said.

But Gail Janks also said she does not believe her daughter intended to harm anyone.

“I don’t think she was aware that there were people behind the car when she was backing up,” she said Friday. “I think she just wanted to go away.”

It remained unclear Friday how many times Karen Janks had been shot. Navarro said only an autopsy still to be conducted could determine whether individual wounds came from more than one round of ammunition.

Toxicology tests to determine if Janks may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol also will be pertinent to the investigation, Navarro said.

The Marin County Coroner’s Office will conduct the autopsy for the sake of impartiality. The Sonoma County Coroner’s Unit is part of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

Navarro said it appeared Janks no longer had a permanent address when she found her way to Windsor, where a motorist observed a car matching the description of her 1996 Infiniti G20 sedan traveling south - in reverse - on northbound Highway 101 in Windsor at 11:46 p.m. Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The motorist alerted authorities, and five minutes later a sheriff’s deputy saw a vehicle fitting the description run a red light on Old Redwood Highway near Starr Road, authorities said.

The deputy tried to pull the car over, but it sped away instead, heading onto southbound Highway 101 at Arata Lane with the deputy following in pursuit, police said.

More deputies joined the chase, and spike strips were used to try to deflate Janks’ tires, but they were ineffective, authorities said.

Janks, meanwhile, was speeding down the highway in excess of 100 mph, turning off her lights at some point, then exiting at Todd Road in the dark and narrowly missing another car as she continued west, Navarro said.

Six sheriff’s deputies in four patrol cars were involved by the time Janks wound through rural west Santa Rosa at speeds up to 80 mph, then turned onto Old Gravenstein Highway and into the parking lot behind the Antique Society in Sebastopol, where she stopped.

It was 12:06 a.m. A minute later, after deputies ordered Janks to give up, three deputies had been struck - at least one hard enough to fall to the ground - and four deputies had begun shooting, Navarro said. They included two of those who had been hit by Janks’ car, though it wasn’t clear which two, Navarro said.

He said the deputies got Janks from the vehicle and immediately commenced life-saving efforts, including chest compressions, indicating the severity of her injuries. She was taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where she died Friday.

Gail Janks credited Santa Rosa police officers for coming down to her and her husband’s home Thursday morning with a chaplain to notify them in person of the incident and their daughter’s likely death.

The mother and her family remained at their home Friday, praying for Janks from afar, she said, and had asked a hospital chaplain to pray over their daughter, as well.

Although their family is Jewish, Karen Janks converted to Christianity and had a strong spirituality, which she demonstrated in a video posted to YouTube two months ago in which she passionately sang a New Testament ballad.

Navarro asked anyone with information about Janks or the case to call police detectives at 707-543-3590.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB. You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.