photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

A Lawrence Police Department patrol vehicle is pictured June 28, 2022.

Updated at 4:02 p.m. Wednesday, April 23

Lawrence police fired on a woman Tuesday evening, hitting her, after the woman reportedly fired several shots during a standoff.

Police fired “a less lethal round” in an attempt to stop the armed woman, according to a police Facebook post, which said the woman was not seriously injured.

Officers were dispatched to a home in the neighborhood south of Sixth Street between Schwarz Road and Lawrence Avenue just before 8:30 p.m. with information that a woman had a gun and was threatening to harm herself.

Initially, officers weren’t sure if others were in the home and negotiations began, they said. Officers evacuated some neighboring homes.

The woman fired several shots during the standoff, and communication with her was sporadic, police said. The woman ultimately emerged with continued threats, leading to officers deploying “a less lethal round.”

Sgt. Drew Fennelly, in an email to the Journal-World, described the round as a “40mm impact round that is meant to strike a person, though it is not intended to break the skin. It’s a foam tipped round.”

A short time later, negotiators were able to convince the woman to come out. She was safely taken into custody, and medics with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical took over.

Douglas County Jail records indicate that Gina Marie Cabanas, 48, was arrested at 3003 Bainbridge Circle shortly after 8:20 p.m. on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, criminal discharge of a firearm and criminal threat.

On Wednesday morning, Cabanas was charged in Douglas County District Court with nine felonies — one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; seven counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon; and criminal threat — plus one misdemeanor, criminal discharge of a firearm. The charging document alleges that Cabanas used a semi-automatic handgun. The document lists one civilian and seven police officers as victims.

Cabanas made her first court appearance Wednesday afternoon via video from the jail. The state requested that her bond be set at $20,000 cash or surety, noting concerns for community safety and the fact that the crimes charged involved disobeying law enforcement. Cabanas said she could not afford to pay that amount, adding that she had to help support three kids.

“I don’t have that kind of money,” she told Judge Stacey Donovan. “I’m going to lose my job.” Cabanas said she was also losing “my house and my family.”

Donovan granted the state’s request for a $20,000 cash or surety bond, ordered Cabanas to have no contact with the non-law enforcement witness she is accused of assaulting with a deadly weapon, and also ordered her not to return to the Bainbridge Circle address.

Donovan appointed Razmi Tahirkheli to represent Cabanas and ordered her to next appear in court on April 30.