Officials: Child among 3 dead at housing complex in town of Brooklyn

BROOKLYN — Three people, including a child, were found dead Tuesday night inside a home in eastern Connecticut, officials said.

Connecticut State Police said troopers responding to a “suspicious incident” found the bodies inside a Middle Street residence around 8:27 p.m. Tuesday. State police said two adults and a young child were pronounced dead at the scene, but did not immediately release their names on Wednesday.

State police have not revealed the circumstances of the deaths, but said their preliminary findings indicated the incident was “isolated” and “there is no ongoing threat to the public.”

Neighbors said Wednesday they heard what sounded like gunfire before a couple and a young boy were found dead in the Quebec Square Village apartment. The family moved into the public housing complex a few months ago, neighbors said.

“It’s a gut-wrenching feeling when you know a kid lives there,” said Kayla Lambert, who lives nearby. “You don’t expect something to happen right in your own backyard.”

Lambert said her husband was looking for their cats Tuesday night when he heard loud bangs. He didn’t realize it was gunfire, but police then showed up, guns drawn, she said.

Medics also arrived, but they weren’t there long, Lambert said.

“And when they went in, and came right out, we knew it was bad,” she said.

Sabrina Mayo said her husband also heard the gunshots. He was at the complex visiting a friend about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday when they heard five loud bangs, then another five bangs. They didn’t think anything of it because the bangs didn’t sound like gunshots, Mayo said.

Then police began to arrive, and the friend’s neighbor came out and said a bullet went through his child’s wall, she said.

Mayo’s sister, Sonya Babcock, who lives down the hill from the scene, said an official at Brooklyn Elementary School where her daughter attends notified families about the counseling they were offering.

“That shook me Babcock said.

In a message to Brooklyn families, Superintendent of Schools Patricia Buell said a child was among those who died. She said the child was not a student in Brooklyn Public Schools, but the district was providing support on Wednesday to up,” faculty and students.

“We have assembled the teachers, and provided support,” she said. “It is very terrible for the town of Brooklyn.”

Eastern District Major Crime detectives were at the Middle Street scene throughout the night and most of Wednesday morning as shaken residents looked on.

Early Wednesday afternoon, after investigators left and the bodies had been removed, neighbor Elaine Andersen walked up to the apartment and placed a stuffed leopard on the front doorstep in honor of the young life that was lost.

Andersen’s boyfriend, John Belisle, said, “I welcomed them to the neighborhood. I never met the man, but I did see the boy frequently.”

Babcock said she has lived in Brooklyn for two years.

“I thought this was a decent neighborhood,” she said. “This has always has been a quiet town with nothing going on.”

Brooklyn is not known for crime. The chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime in the Connecticut town is 1 in 772, compared to the statewide rate of 1 in 617, according to Neighborhood Scout.com.

The town of 8,500 is better known for its longrunning annual summertime agricultural fair, the Brooklyn Fair.

It also houses a state prison, the Brooklyn Correctional Institution.