Modesto: Woman Shot by Off Duty Sheriff After Eviction Notice Served

On Friday night, Rita Elias, 31, died after off-duty sheriff's detective Kari Abbey, shot and killed her after an hour long argument. Kari Abbey, a 6 year veteran to the force, and a detective of four years, was at an apartment complex owned by her parents. She got into an argument with Elias after the woman became (rightly so) angry after being served with an eviction notice. It appears that the Abbey's own the apartment complex in which Elias was living.

After about an hour of arguing, witnesses reported hearing several shots. According to ABC News 10, the pair even broke into a fist fight at one point. This begs the question, if a heated argument raged for an hour, why didn't the Detective call the police - being that's something that the cops themselves tells us to do in situations like these. The Sheriff's Department contends that Elias had a gun, and that Abbey shot and killed her because she feared for her life. Elias family however, "...disputed investigators' assertion that she was brandishing a gun when she was shot."

As one commenter on the Modesto Bee site wrote: "The officers father owns the property where the shooting occurred. If you rent from this man and he comes to collect the rent or post an eviction, be cautious, his daughter may shoot you if she feels her life is in danger even if she is ILLEGALLY trespassing."

Another shooting death in a city already reeling from the murder of Francisco Moran, who was killed after police lied about the 45 year old man welding a knife during a domestic call. The knife turned out to in fact be a wooden spoon. The Sheriff's Department is no stranger to blood on it's hands in recent months either. In the past year, 6 people have died in the Stanislaus County Jail, half, admittedly on the part of the Department, due to run ins with police tasers. Half of the families of those who have died in the jail are suing the Department, costing cash strapped tax payers in Stanislaus millions of dollars. Alfred Huskey also further embarrassed the Department in the past year, after he was found guilty of molesting and raping his step-daughter from an early age. Disgustingly, Huskey only received a year in jail and does not have to register as a sex offender.

Several things are for sure. The Modesto Bee and other mainstream media will continue to toe the line of the police. We'll have to go out and talk to other people if we want to know the truth. The police will, continue, to, lie. Lastly, the courts and the legal system will always favor the police. It is in our streets and communities, and the degree that we have control over them - against the government, anti-social elements, and the wealthy, that we will find justice.