Gold Line Drama

The following blurb was published by the Pasadena Star News Wednesday, May 25:

Attempted suicide halts Gold Line trains

SOUTH PASADENA -- A woman with a .44 Magnum handcuffed to her wrist threatened to kill herself early Wednesday morning at the Mission Gold Line Station, authorities said.

A police officer eventually talked her into giving up the gun. Gold Line trains were stopped short of the station for about 15 minutes because of the incident.

A 43-year-old South Pasadena woman made an anonymous 9-1-1 call at about 4:41 a.m. from the pay phone at the station at 905 Mission Street, police said. She told the dispatcher there was a woman there with a gun handcuffed to her arm, who was intent on committing suicide by "blowing her heart out," police said.

South Pasadena police officers arrived at the scene within a minute. The woman, who had been lying down in a nearby rose garden, sat up and said, "Here I am," police said. She remained seated, hidden in the roses, with a revolver pointed against her chest, police said. The gun, which was handcuffed to her wrist, was loaded and cocked.

South Pasadena Police Officer Frank Litterini, about 15 feet from the woman when she sat up, calmly talked to her for the next six minutes, police said. He convinced her to lower the weapon, and she was taken into custody without incident.

The woman was taken to Huntington Hospital for an examination. No charges will be filed.