FREMONT—Annette Smith, 54, of Hayward, was arrested November 25 on charges involving brandishing a hatchet at a man and firing a shot from a handgun—after she arrived on the scene where a man and his girlfriend had been arguing.
Smith was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed firearm, negligent discharge of a firearm and brandishing a weapon. The incident began at 7:47 a.m. when Fremont patrol officers investigated gunfire reported near the 2400 block of Walnut Avenue, but before long Union City and Hayward police got involved too.
The man who’d been driving while arguing with his girlfriend pulled over and ordered her out of his car, apparently thinking that had finished their heated argument. The girlfriend phoned a member of her family, Smith, to request a ride home—but the situation soon escalated when she showed up, police said.
Smith argued with the man too, before she allegedly retrieved a hatchet from inside her car and threatened him with it. Fremont police said that when the man apparently didn’t respond to the hatchet, she pulled out a handgun and fired a shot, before she fled in her car.
Smith was arrested by Union City police while driving along Mission Boulevard, with the assistance of Hayward police who stopped the vehicle, as she was entering a neighborhood in Hayward.
A hatchet, gun and other evidence were recovered from inside the vehicle. No injuries were reported involving the man, women nor any officers from the three responding police departments.
