Using the limited identifiable person/imminent harm exception to governmental immunity, a state Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit brought by the estate of a woman murdered by her husband may go forward against the Bristol Police Department.

The wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2015 is tied to the shotgun murder of Kyla Ryng at the hands of her estranged husband, Alexander Ryng, in 2014. Alexander Ryng turned the gun on himself while the couple's three young children were in the house.

The lawsuit claims the Bristol Police Department and officer George Franek were negligent in Kyla Ryng's death, arguing the commonly-used governmental immunity clause shouldn't be allowed because of the department's alleged knowledge of Alexander Ryng's propensity for violence against his estranged wife.