Rosebud Denovo

Rosebud Abigail Denovo (born Laura Marie Miller) (? - d. August 25, 1992) was a 20 year old street activist who had previously been involved during the 1991 riots at People's Park in Berkeley, California. She was arrested and released after police allegedly found gunpowder at a campsite she shared with a boyfriend in the Berkeley hills. These charges were never proven.

On August 25, 1992, Denovo broke into the residence of Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien on the UC Berkeley campus at 5:50 am, triggering a silent alarm that summoned the University of California Police Department (UCPD), who escorted Tien and his wife safely off the premises. The UCPD then sent five Oakland Police Department officers and dogs into a dangerous situation, and they were forced to shoot and kill Denovo after she allegedly lunged at them with a hunting knife. The hunting knife was in her possession. The police version remains highly controversial as the autopsy indicates at least one of the bullets that killed Denovo entered her from the back, but that easily could have happened when she was trying to attack another officer.

The activist's killing triggered further protests since some saw the police entry as contrary to customary police procedure. Normal procedure when an armed, disturbed person is in a house, but not endangering anyone, is to negotiate with the person from the outside, but after breaking into the house, Denovo did not say anything, so the police had to act. People also criticized the UCPD and the OPD because the officer who shot Denovo had been the subject of previous citizen complaints alleging excessive force, but luckily jurisprudence does not allow past actions to be used as evidence against current action. While many complained and protested, no one could ever prove that the police were lying.