Police: Driver in stolen car injured when Auburn officer fires into rear window

AUBURN, Wash. -- An Auburn police officer fired into a stolen car Thursday night when a female driver refused to get out and reached for something in the back of the vehicle, the Auburn Police Department said.

The woman suffered an injury to one of her arms, police said, but they did not know if she had been shot or if the injury was from the shattered glass, spokesman Steve Stocker said.

He explained that police got an anonymous call at about 7:02 p.m. that there was a woman driving drunk who was armed with some sort of gun. Officers went to track her down and found her at about 7:20 p.m. parked in the Fred Meyer parking lot on Auburn Way.  Officers ran her plates and found that the car was stolen, Stocker said.

Five officers approached the woman and tried to talk to her, but she refused to leave the car and made suicidal threats, Stocker said. Then she reached for something in the back of the car, prompting one officer to fire into the rear window.

She had been hospitalized, Stocker said, but was alert and aware when being transported to the hospital.