Killings of CT mother and son a ‘bad nightmare’ for family
BROOKLYN — On Valentine’s Day, Lury Pizarro went to Worcester, Mass., where she brought her mother chocolate and roses before returning home to her Connecticut apartment, her cousin said this week.
But the day known for love and romance became a night of terror when the 33-year-old mother and her 3-year-old son, Emmanuel, were fatally shot, state police said — apparently at the hands of the preschooler’s father, Jose Alberto Perez.
Neighbors heard rounds of gunfire, after which police and medics arrived to find the mother, father and son dead of gunshot wounds. Lury was shot three times, according to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which determined she and her son were victims of homicides.
The 32-year-old father died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the medical examiner staff said.
Calling hours and a funeral service for Lury and Emmanuel were scheduled for Wednesday evening and they will be buried on Thursday in Worcester, Mass., where Lury lived for years before moving to the apartment in Quebec Square Village in Brooklyn a few months ago. The family set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to pay for the services, raising more than $11,700 by Wednesday afternoon.
The deaths stunned Lury Pizarro’s family, according to her step-cousin, Leilani Turley.
Lury had been in a relationship with Perez for years, and never said there were problems,
Turley said.
“From what I’ve been told, Jose has always been a very nice person. He never showed any signs,” she said. “It was out of nowhere. It’s shocking.”
The couple separated once when Pizarro lived in Worcester and Perez stayed with a relative in Springfield, she said. But Turley said the family was told the change in living arrangements was due to Perez’s job.
“She never mentioned anything to anyone in the family,” she said, although she acknowledged
her cousin “has always been private with her relationships.”
Turley said her family is still in shock.
“She was in a relationship. She wanted to become a mother. She hoped and wished for it,” Turley said. “I can’t believe this,” she said. “Honestly. I keep wishing and hoping every single day, that it was a bad nightmare.”
Turley said her aunt, Lury’s mother, is taking it especially hard because she lost both a
daughter and a grandson. Lury and Emmanuel often stayed at her Worcester home.
“My aunt was like, ‘This is very heartbreaking’ because they used to stay there all the time. Having to lose both of them at the same time...” Turley said, trailing off. “It’s even more hard, losing a daughter, and losing a grandson.”
The family described Emmanuel, who was born in Boston, as “a smart, loving, caring, playful 3-year-old” in a joint obituary with his mother.
“He loved playing and spending time with his cousins and was always close by his mother, Lury,” the obit said.
Lury Pizarro was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, but grew up in Worcester an attended local schools, according to Turley. She worked for a few years as a system manager for a transportation company, the obit said.
She is survived by her mother, grandmother, a brother, a sister and many aunts, uncles and cousins. Her biological father died in 2017, Turley said, and that hit her hard.
“She could never get over that. She was always private, but that made her more shutdown,” Turley said.
But her cousin found happiness in the form of motherhood, and she was willing to spread her joy to others.
“She was a really nice, happy and an outgoing person. Although she was very private with her personal life, she was very outgoing,” Turley said.
Bringing flowers and candy to her mother on Valentine’s Day was one example of her selflessness, she said.
Another act of kindness happened when Turley was walking to the library in Worcester one day. Lury spotted her while driving to work — and running behind schedule.
“She saw me walking, and said, ‘Hey, I’m late for work, but if you need a ride, I’ll take you wherever you need to go,’ ” Turley said.
“She was very kind, loving,” she said. “She always put others first.”