Son Sues Town Over Mother's Killing, Blames Fairfield PD: Report

FAIRFIELD, CT — A man is suing the town of Fairfield on the grounds that police could have prevented his mother’s killing, according to the Connecticut Post.

Donald Garamella filed the lawsuit Wednesday, claiming Fairfield police knew in advance that his stepfather, James Taylor, was on the brink of violence, and that law enforcement had access to the firearm Taylor used to shoot Garamella’s mother, the Post reported.

Taylor was accused of killing his ex-wife, Catherine Taylor, and assaulting his stepson, Garamella, Feb. 3, 2019, at Garamella’s home on Catamount Road. James Taylor was charged with murder and several other offenses and had been pursuing an insanity defense, according to the Post, but several months after the shooting, he was found dead of an apparent suicide, barricaded inside a shipping container on his son’s Bronson Road property.

Garamella claims that two days before the shooting, he and his mother contacted Fairfield police about James Taylor acting aggressive and threatening Catherine Taylor, and showed officers three guns James Taylor kept in the kitchen of a Redding Road home, the Post reported. Catherine Taylor later called the department and said she feared for her safety, according to the Post, but no officers responded to the Redding Road property.

Garamella is seeking unspecified monetary damages, the Post reported. Town attorney James Baldwin declined to comment to the Post.

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