Reports: 911 call caused confusion in Norwalk homicide response
NORWALK — When Ellen Wink — fired as a city official after being charged with murder last week — called 911, she informed an emergency dispatcher that she got into a dispute with her tenant, according to a police report.
In a Norwalk police detective’s summary of the call, he said Wink was “rambling” about issues she had with the man and that “she has a gun and that her tenant came after her because she was cleaning up,” and stated, “I am so tired of this guy, he is on the floor,” and “the gun is empty.”
However, the dispatcher classified the call to responding officers as a “verbal” dispute and police did not realize a shooting had occurred and that the tenant, Kurt Lametta, was wounded until they arrived nearly 10 minutes later, according to incident reports and a recording of the emergency radio transmission.
“Dispatch informed responding officers the complainant, Ellen Wink, stated she was involved in a verbal argument with her tenant, Kurt Lametta. Dispatch stated the parties are separated and Wink stated she had a gun in the house that was not being used and empty,” Norwalk police officer Tiffany Ortiz, who was one of the first to arrive at the scene, wrote in her report.
When the gun was found at Wink’s home, adjacent to the shooting, the revolver had five shell casings in it, each of which were spent, a detective wrote in his report following the incident. The detective also detailed that Lametta had two gunshot wounds to the chest, two to the back and one to the arm.
In their reports, Ortiz and Officer Brian Barrett stated they arrived at the Nelson Avenue home around noon Thursday expecting to handle
a verbal dispute between Wink and Lametta. Instead, the officers said they looked through a window and discovered Lametta lying in blood in the living room, according to their reports.
“We got someone down inside the house, bleeding, send more units,” Ortiz radioed to police headquarters nine minutes after being dispatched to the scene, according to a recording of the transmission on Broadcastify.com.
In the minutes that followed, Norwalk police requested additional help, including officers equipped with battering rams to help access the home, which was locked, according to the Broadcastify recording.
As Ortiz and Barrett waited for backup, they spotted Wink walking down the neighboring driveway, waving at them with a jacket in her right hand, according to the police reports.
“I’m Ellen. I called. My gun is empty,” Wink said, according to Ortiz’s report.
“What’s going on? Who had a gun?,” Ortiz asked, according to the report.
“I did,” Wink replied, the report stated. When Barrett asked if she used it, Wink said, “Yes, I did. Five times. I know I’m arrested,” the report stated.
As officers awaited help to gain entry to the home, a lock box was spotted outside and Wink provided the code so they could access the key, the police report stated. After entering through the side door, an officer checked for Lametta’s pulse, but found none, according to the report.
Wink, 61, who was fired Friday as the city’s deputy Republican registrar of voters, was charged with murder and remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bond. During Friday’s arraignment, the prosecutor said the killing stemmed from an ongoing feud and rent dispute between Wink and Lametta, 54.
In their reports, police said Wink’s boyfriend heard what could have been “shots” coming from the home and then saw Wink walking to her adjacent Nelson Avenue property where he had been working in the office. The man said Wink told him she shot Lametta and then she went outside to call 911, the police reports said.
“He was after me,” Wink immediately told the dispatcher, according to a report filed by Norwalk Police Detective John Sura, who listened to the 911 call after the incident.
Wink told the dispatcher she had an issue with the tenant and he came after her, Sura wrote in the report.
“She then states she has a gun and that her tenant came after her because she was cleaning up a little and he was all over the place. She said, ‘I am so tired of this guy, he is on the floor.’ Wink said the gun is empty and in the kitchen,” Sura wrote in the report, summarizing the 911 call.
Sura said Wink was “rambling” during the call about her ongoing feud with Lametta.
“Wink said she’s shaking and she has never hurt anyone in her life,” Sura stated about what was said in the 911 call.
Wink told the dispatcher the gun was at her home and stated it was “empty,” Sura stated in the report.
Following the 911 call, the dispatcher relayed to officers that they received a report of a landlord involved in a “verbal” dispute with her tenant, according to the Broadcastify recording.
“They are currently separated now,” the dispatcher said, according to the recording.
The dispatcher said the caller stated there was a gun in the home, but “it is not being used or touched,” according to the recording.
“Again, parties are separated,” the dispatcher said, according to the recording.
The dispatcher’s description of the incident caused confusion for officers in the field who then rushed to the scene when it was realized that a shooting occurred, according to their written reports.
“Dispatch stated that the complainant had informed them that both parties were separated at this time and that they would be standing by to make contact with officers at another home on the street,” Sgt. Shannon Sherry said in the report. “At this time, there was no mention of ongoing violence and there had not been any other calls in regards to this incident.”
Citing an ongoing investigation, the police department has denied Hearst Connecticut Media Group’s Freedom of Information Act request for the 911 call audio and transcript of the recording.
When asked about the communication leading up to the officers’ arrival, Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said they review every serious situation to improve their response. However, he did not say if the dispatcher’s description of the incident affected their response.
“Based on the 911 call, the incident was a landlord-tenant dispute. I can’t comment further as the case is obviously pending in court,” Kulhawik said. “It was not until they arrived that they were aware that a person had been shot.”
Kulhawik pointed to the incident Friday in New York City where an officer was killed and another wounded as an example of the risks police face when they respond to each call.
“I will highlight the dangers officers face when responding to disturbance calls. This was sadly witnessed again in NYC where two officers were shot with one killed and the other critically injured. No call can be taken lightly,” he said. “The officers who responded to Nelson (Avenue) did a great job in their response.”
Wink was previously arrested in September when police said she locked Lametta out of the home, but the status of the case was not immediately clear since it has been statutorily sealed, according to state judicial records.
Wink, who is scheduled to next appear in court March 16, previously served as the Norwalk city clerk from 2009 to 2011.