Providence

Providence police officer kills alleged attacker

PROVIDENCE — A policeman yesterday morning interrupted a man who was stabbing a woman with a “large bayonet” and, to stop the assault, shot him fatally, according to police officials.

Patrolman John S. Abatiello crashed into the couple’s locked bedroom in a South Providence apartment and, with his pistol drawn, ordered the man to drop his weapon. But the man instead raised the bayonet higher in a threatening manner and Abatiello shot him once in the chest, the police said.

The alleged assailant, Eddy Tiburcio, 41, fell to the floor. He was pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital.

The victim, Niurka Moronta, 34, suffered stab wounds to her right shoulder and right thigh and bruises to her left eye and head, according to the police. She was treated at Rhode Island Hospital.

“She’s going to be OK,” said Police Chief Dean M. Esserman. She had been assaulted with both the bayonet and a hammer, he said, and both items were seized.

The couple were the parents of three boys, ages 3, 4 and 7, with whom they lived in an apartment in a duplex at 25 Pennsylvania Ave., according to the police.

The boys have been turned over to the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families.

“A terrifying thing happened and they saw an officer save their mother’s life,” Esserman said. “And yet they won’t see their father again.”

Neighbors in the family’s working-class neighborhood expressed shock.

“I see them very often and they look nice to me,” said Altino Barros, 43, a self-employed contractor who lives at 19 Pennsylvania Ave. “It seemed to me as a couple that they had a very good relationship. I never saw or heard anything” negative.

The events of the morning began with what Esserman said was a 911 call “in the wee hours,” to which the police and Fire Department responded. When no one came to the door, the police and fire personnel left. PROVIDENCE — A policeman yesterday morning interrupted a man who was stabbing a woman with a “large bayonet” and, to stop the assault,... more

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