Somerville Police Officer Dante DiFronzo was cleared in the fatal July shooting of a woman who had stabbed him and two other officers after an investigation by the Middlesex DA's office.

New details emerge in death, triple stabbing

By George P. Hassett

A Somerville police officer who shot and killed a 33-year-old woman has been cleared in an investigation launched immediately after the shooting by Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone.

Dante DiFronzo shot and killed 33-year-old Carol Kingsley after Kingsley stabbed three officers and set a fire inside her home. Kingsley died from one gunshot to the head, according to the investigation.

In the wake of the shooting, Kingsley’s mother and boyfriend, who was at the scene, wondered if deadly force was necessary for three male officers to control one woman.

The investigation included interviews with multiple witnesses at the scene, interviews of the responding Somerville police officers, ballistics examination of evidence found at the scene, review of surveillance video evidence, and analysis of radio transmissions, police reports and witness statements.

“Upon a completion of this investigation, our conclusion is that the responses of the officers were justifiable under the law to affect lawful objectives, bring the incident under control, and protect lives. The reckless actions of [Kingsley] placed the lives of all three officers and others in danger. The officer who discharged his firearm did so to save his, Lieutenant Anzalone’s, and possibly others’ lives, including the officers who had been stabbed by Kingsley and remained on scene,” said a statement from leone’s office.

The investigation revealed new facts and a more detailed timeline on the triple stabbing and fatal shooting including:

On Friday, July 23, 2010, at approximately 6:30 a.m., Somerville Police received a 911 call where the caller informed the dispatcher that his girlfriend was inside of her apartment at 10 Sycamore Terrace, Apartment 2L in Somerville and that she had tried to stab him and had set his clothes on fire inside of the apartment. It was the second 911 call from the apartment that morning, the first occurring around 3:00 a.m.

Somerville police officers Marc DiFava and Jose Ramirez arrived at 10 Sycamore Terrace within minutes of the 911 call.

Kingsley’s boyfriend met the police and told them that his girlfriend, Kingsley, was in her apartment, burning his clothes and screaming that she would kill someone. When Officers DiFava and Ramirez went inside, Kingsley was heard screaming, “You can die. Die the world,” according to the investigation.

Officers DiFava and Ramirez knocked on Kingsley’s door but she refused to open it. They could smell the smoke emanating from inside of her apartment. Officer Ramirez began to kick the door in an attempt to enter. He turned around backwards to back-kick the door and as he did Kingsley opened the door from the inside, immediately lunged toward Officer Ramirez with a knife, and stabbed him in the back.  The officer felt the knife enter his upper back area and quickly turned around to stop her advance.  As the officer was turning around, Kingsley plunged the knife into his upper chest area.  She pulled the knife out and stabbed him again in the same area. As Officer Ramirez was being stabbed, Officer DiFava attempted to intervene, but due to the small space in which they were standing at the top of the stairs they could not stop Kingsley, according to authorities. She then stabbed Officer DiFava in his upper back area.

Officer Ramirez was losing blood and stumbled down the front stairs and out of the apartment building. Kingsley chased Officer DiFava and threw a knife at him, just barely missing him. Officer DiFava indicated over the police radio that officers were injured and that more officers were needed at the scene.

Fire Lieutenant Michael Anzalone could see smoke coming from the back of the apartment and a resident of the building told him there was a fire inside. Lieutenant Anzalone saw Officers Ramirez and DiFava, who told him that Kingsley had stabbed them. He entered the apartment building with Officer DiFronzo, who had responded with other units.

Kingsley had again locked the door to her apartment. Lieutenant Anzalone and Officer DiFronzo attempted to gain access to the apartment. Finally, because of the smell of smoke, Lieutenant Anzalone used the oxygen tank on his back to force the door open.  As he breached the door, he fell into the apartment and saw Kingsley standing in the middle of the small room holding two approximately eight-inch knives in her hands, with blood covering the front of her shirt. She held the knife toward Lieutenant Anzalone, who stood just a few feet away, but did not stab him. Officer DiFronzo moved Lieutenant Anzalone out of the way and ordered Kingsley to drop the knives. She did not comply, but instead backed into the adjoining bathroom. Because of the small size of the apartment when Officer Difronzo again ordered her to drop the knives, she was within arms reach of him. The officer than drew his department-issued firearm and ordered her to drop the weapons. Kingsley then dropped both weapons on the ground.

Officer DiFronzo ordered her to step away from the knives. However, Kingsley grabbed one of the knives she had just put down and lunged at the officer, slicing his hand open with the knife. Officer DiFronzo fired one shot from his department-issued firearm, killing Kingsley.

The investigation also revealed that earlier that morning, at around 3:07 a.m., Kingsley’s boyfriend had called 911 indicating that Kingsley was in her apartment at 10 Sycamore Terrace and was going to harm herself. Police responded and she again threatened to harm herself. The police called an ambulance and at 3:43 a.m. and she was taken to the Cambridge City Hospital. Kingsley checked herself out and arrived back at 10 Sycamore Terrace in a taxi cab sometime before 6:00 a.m. that morning, approximately thirty minutes prior to the second 911 call and the incident that led to the shooting.