A Police Mental Health Advocate Is Wanted in the Death of a Massachusetts Officer
Authorities were searching Wednesday for a woman who co-founded a mental health advocacy group for police and other first responders after a Massachusetts officer was found dead at the home they shared.
Karen Solomon, 58, was believed to be armed, Worcester police said Wednesday. Investigators released doorbell camera video showing her walking down a street in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops early Tuesday, minutes after officers were called to the home. Local, state and federal agencies have joined the search.
The officer was identified by the head of the local police union as Kurt Solomon, a 31-year veteran of the Worcester Police Department. Police declined to name him, but union president Thomas Duffy confirmed his death and described him as family.
“When you serve 31 years with an individual, you become more than coworkers. You become family, and today we lost a member of our family,” Duffy told reporters Tuesday. “Just a tremendous human being.”
Court records show the Solomons owned the home together and that Kurt Solomon listed Karen Solomon as his wife in a 2016 bankruptcy case. Authorities would not discuss the current state of their relationship, citing domestic violence privacy rules.
Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said Karen Solomon was at the house early Tuesday and investigators wanted to speak with her about what happened.
The search has cast an uncomfortable light on a figure known in first responder circles as a vocal advocate for mental health care. Solomon is a co-founder of First H.E.L.P., a national nonprofit that supports families of first responders who die by suicide and works to reduce the stigma around seeking mental health assistance. In a statement Tuesday night, the group offered condolences to the officer’s family and colleagues but did not address the search.
“Our first concern is for the officer who lost his life, his family, his colleagues, and the Worcester law-enforcement community,” the group said. “We extend our deepest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy.”
Solomon has also written two books — “Hearts Beneath the Badge” and “The Price They Pay” — drawing on interviews with officers about the physical and psychological toll of the job. An Amazon author bio says that since 2014 she had been “giving a voice to the thousands of officers in the field who can’t or won’t speak out.”
The case has resonated across the law enforcement community, in part because of the contrast between Solomon’s public mission and the circumstances now under investigation. It also underscores how mental health struggles and domestic dynamics can remain hidden even in households built around the issue.