Wife of slain Bristol police officer gives birth to daughter
The morning after two police officers were gunned down in Bristol in October, the walls of the fire department’s Engine Company 4 on Vincent P. Kelly Road were met with gasps.
The grim reaction took place in a room crowded with reporters and camera operators learning for the first time at a press conference that one of the two slain officers had a child on the way who he would never meet.
Lt. Dustin DeMonte’s daughter, Penelope Dustin-Ann DeMonte, was born Monday at 12:35 p.m. at 7 pounds, 3.7 ounces. On her way out of the hospital on Tuesday morning, Penelope and her mother Laura DeMonte were greeted by more than two dozen Bristol police officers and warm applause.
“It was nice to go down and have something to celebrate,” Bristol police Lt. Michael Duval said.
“We say ‘never forget,’ ” Duval continued. “It’s one thing to say it, but it means a lot more to actually do it. It’s not just a slogan or saying.”
Duval was part of the group of officers who waited outside the hospital to show support for the newborn and Laura DeMonte — whose husband Dustin DeMonte was gunned down alongside Sgt. Alex Hamzy outside a Redstone Hill Road home on Oct. 12 after they were called there for a phony domestic violence report.
The morning after the shooting — which also injured Officer Alec Iurato, who was able to fatally shoot the gunman — authorities read the names of those who were killed and the loved ones they left behind. In addition to having a baby on the way, Dustin DeMonte — who was 35 years old — was a father of two children who would also leave behind his parents and siblings.
Hamzy, who was 34, left behind a wife, as well as his parents and sisters.
Police and their loved ones are one big family, Duval said.
Going down to the hospital to greet the slain lieutenant’s newborn child “just felt right,” Duval added.
“It was something to celebrate.”
Duval also said he has no doubt the support the families of DeMonte and Hamzy have received, as well as surviving Officer Iurato, will continue.
Bristol police chief Brian Gould, who also attended the gathering Tuesday, echoed Duval’s sentiments.
“It’s all part of that ‘never forget’ mentality,” Gould said.