The victim of an officer-involved shooting off Interstate 85 involving two Auburn Police Division officers Sunday has been identified.
Macon County Coroner Hal Bentley identified the woman who was killed after reportedly displaying suicidal tendencies and posing a threat to officers as Melissa Boarts, 36, of Montgomery.
On Sunday, authorities in Lee and Macon counties received unspecified complaints of a female driver on I-85 displaying suicidal tendencies. Auburn officers became involved at approximately 3:40 p.m., when they located Boarts’ vehicle traveling southbound on I-85 toward Macon County.
Auburn officers followed Boarts for several miles before she stopped on Red Creek Road in Macon County. There, she “exited her vehicle armed with a weapon and charged the officers in a threatening manner, at which time the officers discharged their weapons, striking the driver,” an APD release stated.
Boarts was pronounced dead on the scene as a result of her injuries at 5:57 p.m. Sunday.
According to Capt. Lorenza Dorsey with the Auburn Police Division, two Auburn officers discharged their weapons.
Coroner Bentley said Monday that Boarts appeared to have died of one single gunshot wound, however, “the final determination will be Alabama Department of Forensic Science,” he said.
The body has been transported to the Department of Forensic Science State Medical Examiner’s Office in Montgomery for identification and an autopsy.
The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting at the request of the Auburn Police Division, and the SBI’s findings will be turned over to the Macon County District Attorney’s Office.
