Women’s deaths commemorated

The one-year anniversaries of the unrelated deaths of two young Chico women were commemorated separately on Monday (Sept. 22).

Family, friends and supporters of Kristina Chesterman (pictured), a 21-year-old Chico State nursing student who was struck and killed while cycling home, gathered at Chico State and walked to the Nord Avenue bridge where she was hit by drunken motorist Riley Hoover.

Breanne Sharpe’s supporters gathered at the spot on East Eighth Street where police officers shot and killed the 19-year-old after—according to police—she wheeled a stolen car toward them.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey declared Sharpe’s shooting justified on Oct. 3, 2013. Sharpe’s mother, Mindy Losee, used the anniversary of her death to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chico and the officers involved in the shooting.