In People v. Franz (2001) 88 Cal.App.4th 1426, the defendant broke up with his former girlfriend, Schmidt, but they continued to see each other and he hit her on one occasion. Schmidt was afraid of him because he previously said she would be sorry if she called the police on him. (Id. at p. 1433.) One evening, the defendant saw Schmidt and her two male friends on the street as they went home from work. Schmidt and her friends rushed to Schmidt's house and closed the drapes so no one could see inside. The defendant arrived at the house and tried to get in through a window. Schmidt went outside to talk to him and he pushed his way inside. He demanded to know who her friends were, and then he assaulted her and repeatedly threatened to kill her. He also assaulted her two friends, Zook and Immer, as they called 911 for help. (Id. at p. 1434.) When the police arrived, Schmidt ran outside and asked for help. Another officer went into the house and spoke to Zook and Immer while the defendant stood behind the officer. The defendant was not yet in custody, and he looked directly at the two witnesses and made hand gestures and said "shush," and then ran his finger across his throat as they spoke to the officer. The defendant was later arrested and taken into custody. (Id. at pp. 1436-1437, 1442-1443.) In Franz, the defendant was convicted of violating section 422 based on saying "shush" and hand gestures he made to Zook and Immer as they spoke to the officer, and the court held the convictions were supported by substantial evidence. (Franz, supra, 88 Cal.App.4th at p. 1438.) Franz relied on Bolin and held: "defendant's shushing noise, accompanied by the throat-slashing gesture, was 'so' unequivocal that it conveyed to Zook and Immer a sufficient gravity of purpose and immediate prospect of execution of the threat." (Franz, at p. 1448.) Franz also held the defendant's throat-slashing gesture was sufficiently immediate even though an officer was present and he was taken into custody. (Ibid.) In Franz, the defendant argued his threatening gestures to the two witnesses lacked immediacy because an officer was present and the defendant was taken into custody. As Franz explained, however, the immediacy factor was present in the surrounding circumstances because the defendant was enraged about his former girlfriend; the recipients of the threats knew the officer would not always be there to protect them; and the recipients did not know, at the time of the threats, when they would next see the defendant. (Franz, supra, 88 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1448-1449.)