SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. -- A woman who was fatally shot by South Pasadena police has been identified as an actress on the TV show, "ER. "The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is assisting South Pasadena police with the investigation, identified the woman on Friday as 49-year-old Vanessa Marquez. Marquez was known for her roles in "ER" and "Stand and Deliver. "It all began shortly before noon Thursday when South Pasadena officers and a mental health specialist were called to the 1100 block of Fremont Avenue for a welfare check by Marquez's landlord, who was concerned about her well-being.Police said they had been to that home on multiple occasions in the past.Sheriff's investigators said Marquez was suffering from problems connected to an eating disorder and was having a seizure as South Pasadena police arrived. Authorities spoke to Marquez for more than 90 minutes and tried to offer medical care, officials said.At one point, Marquez became combative and was waving a BB gun around that officers believed was a semi-automatic handgun, according to sheriff's officials. That's when Marquez was shot by police in the torso. She later died at the hospital.No officers were injured in the incident. It you have any relevant information about this case, you're urged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.<doc-sep>Victoria Will/AP In this Feb. 14, 2018 photo, actor Chadwick Boseman poses for a portrait in New York to promote his film, "Black Panther." Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer. His representative says Boseman died Friday, Aug. 28, 2020 in Los Angeles after a four-year battle with colon cancer. He was 43.<doc-sep>Vanessa Marquez, an actress best known for her role as a nurse on “ER,” was shot and killed by South Pasadena police on Thursday, authorities confirmed on Friday. Officers were called to Marquez’s home in the 1100 block of Fremont Avenue by a landlord to check on her welfare. When the officers arrived around 12 p.m., she was suffering from seizures and appeared unable to take care of herself. Officers called out paramedics and a mental health clinician, and continued to talk with her. After about 90 minutes, Marquez, 49, armed herself with a BB gun and pointed it at the officers, causing them to open fire, said Sheriff’s Lt. Joe Mendoza. South Pasadena, a municipality separate from neighboring Pasadena, is eight miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Mendoza told reporters that Marquez appeared to be going through “mental problems” and seemed to be “gravely disabled.” She appeared as Ana Delgado in the Edward James Olmos-starring film “Stand and Deliver” in 1988, and in 27 episodes of “ER” as nurse Wendy Goldman. Her other credits include the series “Malcom & Eddie” and “Wiseguy.” Last October, Marquez alleged that she was blacklisted from “ER” by co-star George Clooney after complaining of racial discrimination and sexual harassment. “Clooney helped blacklist me when I spoke up abt harassment on ER.’women who dont play the game lose career’I did,” she wrote on Twitter. Clooney issued a statement at the time saying he had nothing to do with casting on the show. “I had no idea Vanessa was blacklisted,” he said. “I take her at her word. I was not a writer or a producer or a director on that show. I had nothing to do with casting. I was an actor and only an actor. If she was told I was involved in any decision about her career then she was lied to. The fact that I couldn’t affect her career is only surpassed by the fact that I wouldn’t.” Marquez also wrote on social media that she was suffering from immune disorders, including celiac disease. She said several times that she was diagnosed as “terminal,” was suffering from chronic pain, and was “homebound.” Marquez had alleged she was groped on the set of “ER” well before the #MeToo movement last fall. She claimed that when she complained to the producers, she was exiled. “I was blacklisted and my career was over at 26,” she wrote on Facebook in January 2017. “Why are women afraid to speak up ‘at the time?’ Because everything they’ve ever worked for is RIPPED away from them. For being a goddamn victim and expecting protection.” She also wrote extensively about her health problems and said she was entering “that Norma Desmond stage that some actors do. Watching their old stuff on tv.” “A person only has so much strength and I’m afraid I’ve used all mine up,” she wrote. “Why couldn’t my dream have lasted for more than just those few years?” POPULAR ON VARIETY:<doc-sep>
Vanessa Marquez, an actress known for her regular appearance on the popular NBC television show “ER,” was shot and killed by police in South Pasadena on Thursday after she brandished a BB gun, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Friday. Officers from the South Pasadena Police Department visited the actress’s apartment on Thursday to perform a welfare check on Marquez, 49. When they arrived, the officers said they noticed that she was suffering from seizures. Vanessa Marquez as Nurse Wendy Goldman on Episode 15 of ER on Feb. 5, 1995. Alice S. Hall / NBCU Photo Bank Marquez became increasingly uncooperative as they spoke to her and encouraged her to receive medical treatment for over an hour and a half, authorities said. She then brandished what appeared to be a handgun and police shot her in response. The weapon turned out to be a BB gun and was "described as a replica semi-automatic handgun,” according to police. A county mental health clinician had accompanied the South Pasadena officers to the scene, the sheriff's office said. "She was suffering from some problems, eating disorder," Sgt. Joe Mendoza of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department told reporters, according to NBC News Los Angeles. "When they [officers] arrived, she was suffering a seizure." The L.A. County Sheriff’s office said that it is investigating the officer-involved shooting. Marquez is most famous for appearing in a number of "ER" episodes over three seasons as the nurse Wendy Goldman and for appearing in the 1988 film "Stand and Deliver," and episodes of "Seinfeld" and "Wiseguy" in the '90s, according to IMDB. She was also featured in an early episode of the A&E show “Intervention” in which she discussed her compulsive shopping habits and other psychological ailments. Less than a year ago, Marquez made headlines when she alleged that her “ER” co-star George Clooney had caused her to be blacklisted after she complained of racial discrimination and sexual harassment, according to Variety. Clooney denied the allegations and said he had no control over hiring. On her Facebook profile, Marquez claimed that she was terminally ill, often suffered from seizures and had been diagnosed with celiac disease and osteoporosis.