A woman fled her home and called police from a neighbor’s house after her husband shot her
CRANSTON – A Cranston man diagnosed with terminal cancer fired several shots at his wife and then shot at police officers who came to his aid before apparently taking his own life Tuesday night, Cranston Police Lt. Col. Michael J. Winquist said in a news release.
Neither the officers nor the woman were hit in the incident, which Winquist said brought several police departments to a Cranston neighborhood and required the evacuation of surrounding homes.
The man was identified as 69-year-old Neil Douglas.
At approximately 8:05 p.m., police officers responded to 18 Harding Avenue after receiving a report of “a domestic altercation during which a male suspect pulled out a handgun and fired several shots at his wife inside the home after expressing homicidal and suicidal thoughts.”
The woman managed to escape the house and call 911 from a neighbor’s phone, police said.
When officers reached the house and got out of their patrol cars to set up a security perimeter, Douglas fired two shots at them, hitting a house across the street, Winquist said.
Cranston police evacuated surrounding homes and deployed their SWAT team, drone and negotiation teams, and received mutual aid from several neighboring police departments.
Crisis negotiators tried to contact Douglas for several hours. Shortly after midnight, officers entered the house and found him dead. He had apparently inflicted a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Winquist said. Several firearms were found near his body, Winquist said.
Winquist said the incident was “a stark reminder of the dangers police officers face every day as they respond to emergency calls to protect their fellow citizens.”
“This is a tragic incident that could have resulted in a murder-suicide and serious injury or death to a police officer,” Winquist said. “Our thoughts are with all the families involved.”
Winquist also thanked the police authorities who “provided tremendous support throughout the event.”
These are the Rhode Island State Police, the Warwick Police Department, the Providence Police Department, the East Providence Police Department and the Rhode Island Bomb Disposal Squad.
