East Hartford neighborhood shattered by domestic violence, deadly police shooting

Hartford Courant - 9/7/2019

Sep. 7--Lou Dattilio was outside his East Hartford home with his family on a pleasant Thursday evening when they heard screams from down the street. A man came out of the raised ranch at 95 Skyline Drive, flailing his arms and yelling incomprehensibly.

"He looked enraged," Dattilio said.

Dattilio described the prelude to a burst of domestic violence in a quiet neighborhood that ended with a severely injured woman and a man -- identified Friday as John J. Carras, 43 -- shot dead by police. The woman, identified by Windsor School Superintendent Craig Cooke as a former employee in the district, was near death Thursday night, but her condition improved Friday, police said.

"There's good cause for hope and we're optimistic," police spokesman Lt. Josh Litwin said.

Two officers who responded to the scene suffered minor injuries during a struggle with Carras, who worked as a school psychologist at Berlin High School. The officers are on administrative leave, as called for by police policy, Litwin said.

"They are resting and tending to the injuries they sustained from the incident," Officer Michael Weglarz said. "They are lucky they are alive and saved the woman's life. Terrible situation all around."

Two children were in the house at the time of the incident, Litwin said. They were not injured. Litwin would not say if one or both officers fired their guns, or if Carras had a weapon.

Neither the officers nor the police cruisers at the scene were equipped with cameras, said Windham State's Attorney Anne Mahoney, who is investigating the shooting with help from state police Eastern District crime detectives. Litwin said the department plans to adopt body cameras, but has not finished the process to equip officers.

Police were alerted at about 6:15 p.m., when dispatchers fielded a "panicked" call about an ongoing domestic attack inside the home at Skyline and Lark drives. Arriving officers encountered a violent scene and moved to save the woman's life. Carras fought with the officers, and they fired on him during the struggle, police said. Police didn't say how many shots were fired or how many times Carras was hit. He died at an area hospital at about 7 p.m., Litwin said.

Dattilio had a view of the frightening events from his house. After Carras went back inside the house, apparently still in a fit of rage, two children -- a girl and a younger boy -- came running from the home yelling, "Help! Help! He's trying to kill my mother!" Dattilio said.

The girl, about 11, had called 911, but Carras had slapped the phone from her hand, Dattilio said she told him.

Dattilio has an injured foot, but his neighbor was able to run over to help. The man told Dattilio later that Carras had been choking the woman on the kitchen floor and yelled, "We're all set here!" when the neighbor confronted him. The neighbor also called police.

The next thing Dattilio said he saw was an officer halfway up the deck stairs firing his weapon several times. He said he could see the muzzle flash.

Officer Frank Iacone, the police union president, said the officers saved the woman's life, and possibly, the lives of the two children.

"Thanks to the heroic actions of our officers, at least one and possibly more lives were saved last night. It's a horrible situation for all involved," he said.

Carras had been a school psychologist at Berlin High School for about 11 years, School Superintendent Brian Benigni said. Staff members who knew him well were shocked at news of his violent death, Benigni said.

"Many of them said he was the rock that they leaned on," the superintendent said.

Cooke said the victim left the Windsor school district in June to take a job in Tolland schools.

"She's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet -- just a very positive person," he said.

Like other neighbors, Dattilio said he never saw any foreshadowing of such violence from the couple. There was no history of domestic violence at the house, which is in the southeastern corner of town, where serious crimes are uncommon, Litwin said.

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"This is a wonderful, quiet neighborhood and these types of incidents are not frequent," Litwin said

A woman who lives next door said the couple were always helpful to her, assisting her with raking leaves and other chores. "Wonderful people," said the elderly woman, who would not give her name.

Courant staff writer Steven Goode contributed to this story.

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com.

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