Woman killed after stabbing 3 Somerville officers

SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Three police officers in Somerville were stabbed and a female suspect was shot and killed on Friday morning.

Authorities said officers responded to a home on Sycamore Terrace at about 6:30 a.m. after a call from a man saying that his girlfriend, 33-year-old Carol Kingsley, had lunged at him with a knife and tried to set a fire.

When officers arrived on the scene, two of them received multiple stab wounds, and one officer was stabbed once, according to police. All three officers received substantial, but non-life threatening injuries.

According to neighbors, Kingsley and her boyfriend got into an argument that turned ugly.

"I heard domestic disturbance, per se, words around 6 o'clock this morning. The fire alarm went off about 6:30. There was smoke in the halls," said Becky Felhazy, the suspect's neighbor.

Reportedly Kingsley had set fire to her boyfriend's clothes, which forced officers to enter her apartment.

"I heard the fire alarms going off, and they said that she tried to burn the place down," said Kevin Donovan, another neighbor.

When police arrived, Kingsley turned on them and stabbed all three, then a shot was fired by one of the officers, which killed Kingsley.

"Basically there was smoke and all that, and things got out of hand and the officers felt that they needed to defend themselves, and Carol's gone," said Kingsley's boyfriend.

Approximately three hours before the incident, police were called to the home for the first time. Kingsley was taken away by ambulance, and reportedly brought to a Cambridge hospital in handcuffs.

"They dragged her out at 3:00 a.m. to the hospital, came back," said Donovan.

Her boyfriend now wonders why she was ever released.

"I'm a little disappointed with the professional help that she was given because she was released and then this happened," said Kingsley's boyfriend.

Court papers revealed that there was a pending case against her, and among the many charges, there was assault and battery on a police officer.

Sylvia Smith who knew Kingsley, was at the center of the case.

"Kick and fight and biting, she physically attacked me, so after she attacked me she attacked them (police), that's what she did," said Smith.

Some neighbors said they're not surprised by Friday's incident, saying the suspect behaved strangely.

 "She's up 24 hours. Banging, screaming, she's been taken away a few times. One night she was going to jump off the balcony, police have been here quite a few times. I got to the point where I was ready to move out" said Ed Lavelle, a neighbor.

"She's done this before. She's fought, probably about two months ago, she fought with the cops on the stairs not wearing any pants and they escorted her out," said Donovan.

The three officers were treated and released from Massachusetts General Hospital.

The Somerville police chief said he believes his officers acted accordingly.

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