Police were searching Tuesday for Karen Solomon after an off-duty Worcester police officer was found dead at a home on Wildwood Avenue, turning a quiet morning call into an urgent manhunt tied to one of the department’s own. Officers went to the house at 5:28 a.m. for a report of a person down and found a man dead inside.
The man was later identified as Kurt Solomon, a 31-year veteran of the force, according to the Worcester police union. By Tuesday, Chief Paul Saucier said Karen Solomon was presumed to be armed and dangerous, and Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. described her as a suspect. Local and state officers joined US Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations and the US Marshals Service in the search.
That made the case immediate for Worcester, where the death of a longtime officer landed hard on coworkers already trying to make sense of what had happened in the house. Thomas Duffy called Kurt Solomon a loyal, dependable person and said the men and women of the department were hurting right now. Tony Blaise, who said he had lived next door to the Solomon home for more than 15 years, was among the neighbors left watching the scene unfold as officers moved in and out of the area.
Officials described the death as a domestic incident, but they would not say what relationship, if any, Karen Solomon had to the officer because of restrictions in domestic violence cases. That limit leaves the central question in the case unanswered even as police widen the search: what happened inside the home before officers arrived and found Kurt Solomon dead?
Karen Solomon is the founder and president of First H.E.L.P., an organization focused on reducing mental health stigma among first responders and raising awareness about suicide and mental health issues in the first responder community. A biography cited in the case also describes her as the wife of a police officer and says she has taken part in law-enforcement wellness work, including an Officer Safety and Wellness Group Meeting in 2018. For now, investigators are still trying to locate her and piece together the events that led to the death on Wildwood Avenue.
