Angella Falconi: Deputies shoot, kill woman threatening husband and child with knife, PBSO says

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- The sheriff's office has identified a woman who was shot and killed by deputies this morning after they say she threatened her husband and a child with a butcher knife.

Deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call around 2:25 a.m. to the 1400 block of North J. Street in Lake Worth.

A man called 911 claiming he was in fear of his life because his wife, later identified as 24-year-old Angella Falconi, was trying to stab him. He told dispatchers he was trying to get a 3-year-old child away from her, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

When deputies arrived, they encountered Falconi, who was threatening her family with a butcher knife about 8 inches long, Bradshaw said.

Falconi and her husband came out the front door together and she was brandishing the knife, according to Bradshaw. He said Falconi held the man's shirt in one hand and the knife in the other.

Deputies told her to drop the knife. 

"It was apparent that she was in the process of going to stab him," Bradshaw said. "The deputies fired at her, at which time she fell to the ground on the spot."

Falconi had a criminal history in Georgia, the Sheriff's Office confirmed. Court records from Gwinnett County, Georgia, show that Falconi had been charged with battery and obstructing a 911 call in August 2010. Barbera said Falconi has a past battery charge in which her husband was the victim, and a possession of drugs charge.

Dave Neissen, Falconi's neighbor, said he and Falconi graduated from Flanegan High School in Pembroke Pines and later moved next door to her. He said they were close friends.

Neissen, whose lived in the duplex since March, said he doesn't believe his friend had any mental issues but does admit that the couple's relationship may have been on the rocks.

He said he heard the two arguing before deputies showed up.

"Someone yelled, that's it, I'm done," said Neissen.

Neissen said he was shaken after hearing five to six shots outside his window. 

"I hear them yell, are you shot, are you ok. Put your hands on your chest, put your hands on your chest," he said.

Falconi was air lifted to Delray Medical Center where she succumbed to her injuries.

The man and child were not injured. The child is currently with child services.

"It's very clear that if the deputies had not taken that action that they did right there on the spot that she would have stabbed him," Bradshaw said.

Jamel Lanee contributed to this report.