The latest example of how sending people with guns to deal with people in a mental health crisis comes to us from Page County, where a special prosecutor has decided that an officer-involved shooting that took the life of a 49-year-old Stanley woman involved the use of deadly force that was justified.
That’s one way to look at what happened on June 23 with what started as a welfare check involving a woman identified as Claudia Muterspaugh, 49.
Another would be to frame it as things playing out with Muterspaugh being able to die by suicide-by-cop.
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“This was a tragic situation for everyone involved,” Page County Sheriff Chad Cubbage said in a statement, and he’s not wrong.
It was a tragic situation not just for Muterspaugh, obviously, because what we know about suicide is, if we can just get a person out of the immediate danger, we can save them.
But then, it’s tragic also for her loved ones.
And then, also a tragedy for the deputies involved. No one who trains to be a cop wants to be on that end of a shooting death involving a person in crisis.
“Our deputies spent several hours that evening trying to reach a peaceful resolution. Unfortunately, the situation reached a point where we were faced with an immediate threat and had to respond,” Cubbage said.
The review into the shooting was led by the Winchester Commonwealth’s Attorney office, which is headed up by Heather D. Hovermale, a WVU Law grad who was elected in 2021 and then re-elected in 2025.
The details of the incident
It began with a call to a residence in the 400 block of Honeyville Road in Stanley at 4:39 p.m. on the afternoon of June 23 with a request to conduct a welfare check on Muterspaugh.
After several attempts to reach her, deputies on the scene eventually were able to enter the residence with the help of a landlord and observed Muterspaugh armed with a handgun and threatening to harm herself.
At this point, the deputies withdrew from the residence and began crisis negotiations, which went on for several hours.
At 10:10 p.m., Muterspaugh exited the residence while still armed and moved toward a nearby vehicle.
Deputies approached in an effort to prevent her from leaving the property while armed.
A less-lethal Taser was deployed, but was ineffective.
Muterspaugh then fired one round, grazing her own head. She subsequently lowered the firearm in the direction of deputies and continued moving toward officers positioned near the vehicle.
Despite commands to stop and show her hands, Muterspaugh continued forward and pointed the firearm toward officers.
Deputies discharged their service weapons, and Muterspaugh was struck and fell to the ground.
Deputies immediately secured the firearm and began providing medical aid.
She was later pronounced deceased at the scene by Page County EMS.
Related
- Harrisonburg | Police officers to team up with mental-health professional for crisis calls
- Harrisonburg: A mental health crisis is among top five emergency calls to police
- Harrisonburg: Police Department to prioritize mental-health crisis response
- Responding with HART: Albemarle County team answers call for mental-health distress
- Charlottesville, Albemarle County beef up emergency response in times of crisis
- Bill aims to reduce officer-involved fatalities for people with mental-health challenges
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Chris Graham
