Police shot and killed a 69-year-old Montgomery County woman

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office is investigating after police fatally shot a 69-year-old woman in Upper Moreland Township.

Police and medics responded to calls of a woman — later identified as Mary Meister — waving a gun outside of a home on the 100 block of Evans Avenue in Willow Grove just after 5 p.m. Sunday. Upper Moreland Township police say Meister pointed the gun at medics dispatched to the scene and did not comply when asked to drop the weapon.

Meister then turned the gun on the officers, police said, and an officer shot her. Meister was taken to Abington Hospital, where she was pronounced dead Sunday night.

Montgomery County detectives are investigating the shooting. The name of the officer who shot Meister has not been released.

On Monday, the 100 block of Evans Avenue was quiet, save for the occasional truck passing by on nearby Old York Road.

On the front porch of Meister’s house were the remnants of Sunday’s shooting. A black examination glove lay on one step. Gravel covered what appeared to be a blood stain.

John Gavin, 77, who has lived in the area for about 50 years, said it was a quiet, safe neighborhood.

Another resident, who declined to give her name for safety reasons, recounted the shooting.

Late afternoon Sunday, she said, she and her daughter heard what sounded like a gunshot. About 20 minutes later, as she was about to go on an afternoon run, at least two police officers had gathered near her house, and she told officers her family had heard a gunshot earlier.

She went back inside and as many as 10 officers soon arrived, at least four with their guns drawn, and pointed them at the front of Meister’s house, she said.

A tense standoff began, with officers pleading with Meister as she was apparently on the phone with her daughter, said the neighbor.

”There was an officer saying, ‘Please put your gun down. We’re here to help you,’ “ the neighbor said.

She said she could not see Meister clearly from the second-floor window from which she and her family observed the standoff from across the street.

Shortly after, the neighbor heard four gunshots coming from the porch, and the officers quickly fired the same number of shots, she said. Meister was later taken away in an ambulance.

Staff writer Robert Moran contributed to this article.