Lake Worth, FL: Police had previously visited home of Lake Worth woman shot by deputies early Tuesday

Before she was shot dead by a Sheriff's deputy on Tuesday, Angella Falconi had a troubled past.

She also had a stormy relationship with her husband Josef Orta, police and court records show.

On Tuesday at about 2:25 a.m., Palm Beach CountySheriff's Office deputies responded to a 911 call from Falconi's husband. He was inside her apartment in the 1400 block of North J Street in Lake Worth.

It was the second time since late September that deputies had been to the apartment to investigate a report of domestic violence.

At the apartment, Falconi, 24, emerged from the doorway with Orta, 23. She was clutching her husband's shirt and holding what appeared to be an 8-inch butcher knife to him, deputies said.

Their 3-year-old son was home at the time.

Falconi wouldn't drop the knife, even after being told repeatedly to do so, deputies said.

"Deputies, in fear the suspect was going to kill the victim, shot the suspect," said Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera.

The Sheriff's Office was investigating Tuesday and the deputy was put on leave – standard protocol in such cases, Barbera said.

Falconi, who went to high school in Cooper City, married Orta in March 2009, according toBroward County marriage records. She was originally from Georgia, while Orta is originally from New York. At the time, they lived in Pompano Beach.

An arrest report showed that Angella Falconi was listed as the victim in a domestic dispute on Sept. 28. Orta was arrested and initially faced a police charge of battery. The case was dropped Oct. 10 after the Palm Beach County state attorney's office decided there was not enough evidence to corroborate the allegations.

According to the report, deputies responded to a domestic violence call at the same address as Tuesday's shooting. They spoke with both Orta and Falconi. Both had scratches on their arms, the report stated. Each blamed the other for breaking computer equipment in the apartment, the report said.

Efforts to reach Orta on Tuesday were unsuccessful. A person who answered a phone call to Orta said he was "off limits" and would not be commenting.

Court records from Gwinnett County, Georgia, show that Falconi had been charged with battery and obstructing a 911 call in August 2010.

Barbera said Falconi has a past battery charge from Georgia in which her husband was the victim.

At the scene early Tuesday, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters a man at the duplex called 911. The man was clearly scared, Bradshaw said.

"It's very clear that if the deputies had not taken that action that they did right there on the spot that she would have stabbed him," Bradshaw told Sun Sentinel news partner WPTV-Ch. 5.

The child was in the care of relatives, Barbera said.