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Police: Norwalk Woman Threatening Suicide Points Gun At Officer

NORWALK, Conn. -- A 56-year-old woman threatening to commit suicide pointed a loaded gun at a Norwalk police officer who was attempting to help her Thursday in an elevator at her apartment building, police said.  

The scuffle over a gun began when a Stamford-based lawyer called Norwalk police at about noon, saying a client had notified him that she was armed with a .357-Magnum and was planning to commit suicide, according to a statement from Lt. Paul Resnick. 

The lawyer said he and his client had been emailing about her ongoing case, but she had said “goodbye” and her emails had stopped, Resnick said.

As officers arrived at her apartment at 26 Belden Ave. and approached the elevator, they were told the woman had just left her apartment and was enroute to shoot herself on an outside bench, the police report said.

The elevator doors then opened and the officers saw a woman in the corner, police said. When an officer asked her name, she screamed, “No, no, no,” the police report said. She pulled a revolver from the pocket of her jacket, raised it with her right hand and pointed it at the abdomen of the officer in front of her, police said.

The revolver was cocked with the hammer at the rearmost position, police said. The first officer grabbed the revolver and blocked the hammer from coming forward and firing a round, while pushing her hand to the side, police said.

A second officer grabbed her left hand and pinned her to the wall of the elevator, preventing her from moving, police said. The first officer then took away the fully loaded Smith & Wesson .357 and passed it to a third officer, police said.

The officers handcuffed the uninjured woman and called for EMS to transport her to Norwalk Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.

The first officer suffered a cut to his hand. For safety, officers rode in the ambulance with her and noted that she made suicidal and homicidal threats while enroute to the hospital, police said. An emergency committal form was filed by the officers with the hospital, as required by state law.

After a psychiatric evaluation at Norwalk Hospital’s Emergency Department, the woman, identified as Melissa Livingston, was found to be psychologically stable and released, police said.

She was arrested and transported to police headquarters for processing. She was charged with criminal attempt to commit first-degree assault, assault of public safety personnel, and carrying a pistol or revolver without a permit. Bond was set at $100,000 with a court date of Dec. 13 in Norwalk Superior Court.

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