Detectives are still investigating but believe the incident was likely a “domestic-related murder-suicide,” the lieutenant said.
Three people in Connecticut were killed and another seriously injured in an apparent murder-suicide on Friday. Family members of one of the victims said the violent attack may have been triggered by the suspect's homophobia, the Harford Courant reported.
David Wisdom, 65, shot his wife, Delores Tracey Wisdom, 44, and their daughter’s alleged partner, Lauren “Lela’ Leslie, 18, before turning the gun on himself. A fourth victim was Delores' 18-year-old daughter, whose name has not yet been released. The young woman suffered from multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to an area hospital, where she was immediately taken into surgery. She is currently in critical but stable condition, The Journal Inquirer reported.
According to the chief medical examiner, David Wisdom's death was ruled a suicide. Delores Tracey Wisdom died of gunshot wounds to the head, neck, and torso, and Leslie, died of gunshot wounds to the head, torso, and extremities. Both their deaths ruled homicides, the Inquirer reported.
“This is stunning for us as well to see three people deceased in one apartment like that in Windsor Locks. That doesn’t happen up here so we are sorting through it as well,” Windsor Locks Police Department (WLPD) Lt. Paul Cherniak said during the conference as he told reporters the scene was “horrific and graphic,” Fox61.com reported.
Detectives are still investigating but believe the incident was likely a “domestic-related murder-suicide,” the lieutenant said.
“Right now everything is very sketchy, probably because of the hour, people just aren’t around,” Cherniack said at the news briefing. “There’s been reports that they heard an argument just before they heard a popping sound. We have nothing to report on that address involving these parties, we don’t have a history on them at all. A very bad scene, unfortunately.”
The incident took place on Friday just before 1 a.m. when Windsor Locks Police Department responded to a home at 24 Lownds Drive regarding a report of multiple people shot. When officers arrived on the second floor they discovered three adults had gunshot wounds and were pronounced deceased by EMS. The fourth person was seriously injured and transported to an area hospital. A fifth person was found unharmed according to a news release by the Windsor Locks Police Department.
Lauren “Lela’ Leslie, who lived in Bloomfield with her mother, was identified by family members as one of the victims. They say that she had been visiting her girlfriend at 24 Lownds Drive when she was fatally shot, the Inquirer reported.
Leslie’s older brothers, Jhavier and Dondre Leslie told the Hartford Courant that they believe their sister’s relationship with a woman may have played a part in her killing. They said their sister had told them how uncomfortable her girlfriend’s stepfather, David Wisdom, was with their relationship, and said that was one of the reasons why their sister did not spend a lot of time at Wisdom’s home.
The night before the shooting, the brothers said Lela had slept over at her girlfriend’s home.
Jhavier Leslie, who said his sister had just turned 18, was devastated by his sister’s tragic death and called it “unfair,” the Courant reported.
“I am a gay man as well. I know she struggled to come to terms with herself. She spent her whole life barely talking because she was afraid of who she was and she finally gained the strength to realize who she is, so it’s very difficult for me to know that now, her being her true self and living in her reality, this is the result of that in my eyes," Jhavier said, "I feel like it wouldn’t have happened it wasn’t for that.”
According to family members, both women had been in a relationship for the last year, the Courant reported.
