A San Benito County resident with a history of being mentally
unstable was arrested Sunday for brandishing a rifle at a deputy
sheriff, after being arrested early Friday morning for spitting on
a Hollister police officer, police said.
A San Benito County resident with a history of being mentally unstable was arrested Sunday for brandishing a rifle at a deputy sheriff, after being arrested early Friday morning for spitting on a Hollister police officer, police said.
Irene Casillas Sosa, 40, was arrested by San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies at her home at 1550 Union Rd. around 8:30 a.m. Sunday after she pointed a pellet gun at a deputy, said Lt. Pat Turturici.
Sgt. Michael Stephens responded to Sosa’s home for a disturbance call and found her standing in the driveway, Turturici said. When he approached her she ran behind an above-ground swimming pool, where he lost site of her, and when she stood up she was holding what looked to be either a low-caliber rifle or a pellet gun, Turturici said.
“She was holding it in the air with her left hand… and then she leveled the rifle in a shooting stance and pointed it at him,” he said. “He retreated back to his vehicle and she followed him, running with the rifle in her hand.”
Deputies have had prior contact with Sosa in the past, who has a history of being mentally unstable, which contributed to Stephen’s decision to retreat back to his car instead of drawing his gun and confronting her, Turturici said.
“He knew her history and that played a part in his restraint and trying to come up with another plan,” he said. “In the last month we’ve had numerous problems with her… and we’ve taken her to Hazel Hawkins (Hospital) for mental evaluations, but we keep getting calls on her.”
After Stephens returned to his car and began backing out of the driveway, Sosa stood at the end of the driveway and continued to point the rifle at him, Turturici said.
At that point, the sheriff’s department closed Union Road from Union Heights to Riverside Road and deployed the Sheriff’s High Risk Team, a unit of deputies specially trained and equipped to deal with dangerous situations similar to a SWAT team.
While the HRT was in route, however, members of Sosa’s family successfully disarmed her and locked all of the rifles in the house in a safe, Turturici said. She was arrested and taken to the San Benito County Jail where a blood sample was taken for a toxicology report, but police do not suspect drugs were a factor, according to Turturici. She was still being held Tuesday in leiu of $10,000.
Sosa was previously arrested by Hollister police two days before, after an officer tried to approach her while she was standing and yelling in the middle of the road in the 1100 block of Hillcrest Road, said police spokesman George Ramirez.
When an officer tried to talk to her she ran into the Hillcrest Cemetery, which was locked, and then spit on the officer attempting to arrest her, Ramirez said.
Sosa was arrested and booked in the San Benito County Jail for misdemeanor battery to a police officer and trespassing for that incident, but was later released.
Erin Musgrave can be reached at 637-5566, ext. 336 or at
