Warrant Issued as Shooting Suspect Skips Court

A 47-year-old woman accused of going on a drunken shooting spree in Thousand Oaks Sunday failed to appear for her arraignment Friday, prompting a judge to issue a warrant for her arrest.

A defense attorney said Kathleen Ann Quinn didn’t show up in Ventura County Municipal Court because she had checked into a Woodland Hills psychological treatment facility.

“She didn’t wait for a court order,” said attorney Robert J. Cohen of Woodland Hills. “She didn’t wait for something more precipitous to happen.”

But Ventura County Judge Arturo F. Gutierrez said Quinn should have been in court. In addition to issuing the arrest warrant, the judge agreed with a motion by the prosecution to raise the woman’s bail from $5,000 to $50,000.

Some law enforcement officials questioned how Quinn was allowed to get out of jail on $5,000 bail without a judge’s review, about 16 hours after being accused of terrifying Thousand Oaks residents by driving the streets and taking random shots at houses and cars. Quinn was released after posting 10% of the bail--or $500.

No one was hurt by the shooting spree, although bullets tore through seven homes with children and other people inside.

Prosecutors Thursday charged Quinn with 15 criminal counts in connection with the shooting. The charges are seven counts of shooting at occupied houses, five counts of shooting at unoccupied vehicles, two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and one count of malicious mischief.

At the time of the shooting, Quinn was on probation for an unrelated public-intoxication conviction from October. During that arrest, police found a loaded handgun in her possession.

Police said she apparently suffers from depression related to marital difficulties. Cohen argued that the woman needs “psychological intervention” more than she needs to be put in jail.

The defense attorney asked Gutierrez to suspend execution of the warrant until Monday, so Quinn could get further psychological treatment over the weekend. The judge denied the motion.

Cohen said outside the courtroom that he was optimistic that any attempts to serve the warrant could be thwarted.

“I would hope the doctors would not allow her to be taken out,” he said. He contended that Quinn is not trying to duck the law. “She’s not trying to hide from it, what she’s trying to do is cure herself.”

In court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda Groberg portrayed Quinn as dangerous and requested both the increase in the bail and the issuance of the arrest warrant.

“This is an extremely serious offense,” Groberg said. “She was shooting at vehicles. She shot at a hospital, churches. . . . I think she needs to be here.”

Some authorities said the case illustrates a hole in the criminal justice system that allows some felony suspects to be released from jail with relatively low bail, even though they are on probation in another criminal case.

They said Quinn should not have been released from jail after the shooting without a judge’s review because she was charged with a felony and was on probation.