MESA -- Police spent hours trying to talk a suicidal woman out of her home, but the situation escalated into gunfire then ended with her death.

Police forced to shoot woman

Investigators were still on the scene near Power and McKellips roads Wednesday morning.

It all started at about 7:30 Tuesday evening when Debra Bruneaultd, 43, was inside her garage. She was sitting naked in a running car.

Officers were able to make contact with Bruneault inside the garage and she displayed a handgun to the officers. She refused to drop the weapon and officers were able to back out of the house.

Two people, the woman's niece and mother, were escorted from the home.

Several other nearby homes were also evacuated and the rest of the neighborhood was put on lockdown.

Once they were outside, the officers heard what sounded like gunfire coming from inside the residence.

The SWAT team was called in.

Officers tried for hours to negotiate with Bruneaultd, but according to police she was very agitated and would not cooperate.

According to police, during negotiations she was extremely irrational and threatened to kill herself.

Officers could see her inside the home with a handgun pointed at her head.

She finally opened the front door, and that's when things went from bad to worse.

"At one point, we know that she fired at the officers. There was a police vehicle that was struck by that round," said Sgt. Ed Wessing of the Mesa Police Department. "She came out a second time with a gun pointed at those officers."

At least five SWAT officers fired at Bruneaultd, hitting her several times.

She was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Investigators spent the morning combing though the home, trying to determine what led up to the fatal shooting. They are also trying to figure out how many times Bruneaultd shot at officers.

The officers who fired have been place on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in any officer-involved shooting.