Man, 86, allegedly kills 71-year-old wife outside Taunton home, Bristol DA says

Dianne Silveira, who told police in a March 19 report she feared her 86-year-old husband, was fatally shot in the driveway of her Taunton home Sunday night. Authorities allege Edmund Silveira pulled the trigger and then apparently tried to kill himself.

Dianne Silveira, 71, was pronounced dead at Morton Hospital around 9:23 p.m. Sunday with a gunshot wound under her left eye and a second wound to her right shoulder, police said.

Taunton police rushed to the Silveira home Sunday night after a relative of Dianne Silveira told police her sister was “having problems with her husband.” Arriving officers found Dianne Silveira lying in the driveway, a trail of blood leading back toward the house.

Officers carried Dianne Silveira to a waiting ambulance while they watched Edmund Silveira run back inside the small bungalow. And while doctors were trying to save her, Edmund Silveira went through the house shutting off one light after another, police wrote in a report.

Patrol officers surrounded the home and then the regional SWAT team took over and started patiently waiting for Edmund Silveira to surrender, the report said. Just after midnight, a robot was sent in and located the 86-year-old man.

“Edmund Silveira [was] on the kitchen floor with what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds,’' police wrote. Near him they found a gun and knives. Inside the home they found spent shell casings and blood trail that started on the deck and continued into the driveway, police wrote.

He was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital with wounds to his neck and one wrist. He is currently charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for allegedly shooting his wife, but he won’t be arraigned until he is medically cleared, according to Bristol District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III’s office.

The investigation is ongoing by prosecutors along with State and Taunton police.

When officers interviewed the couple on March 19, police said that Dianne Silveira left the marital home that night.

“Ed is just not okay, he doesn’t even let me leave to go out for walks nor let me use cellphone because he thinks I’m trying to meet another guy,’' Dianne Silveira told police.

No charges were filed against Edmund Silveira at the time who was described by an officer as “alert and oriented” and “did not need a psych evaluation.”

“I don’t restrict her from anything,’' he told police. He also insisted a man has been “stalking his wife for the past five years and that he’s afraid he is going to steal her away from him.”