Police ID Woman Killed in Southington, Say Suspect Shot Himself

Police said the man shot himself.

Southington police are investigating the shooting death of a woman Sunday morning and they said the suspect, her ex-boyfriend, has died a day after shooting himself outside the Naugatuck Police Department.

Officers responded to a house on Manor Road in Southington at 6:01 a.m. to conduct a welfare check and found 41-year-old Michelle Barrett in the backyard.

She had been shot and was pronounced dead, according to police, and her death is being investigated as a homicide.

Police said the suspect, 40-year-old Robert DeSantis, of Naugatuck, went to the Naugatuck Police Department where he shot himself in a vehicle in the parking lot.

He was taken to an area medical center, where he died at 1:30 p.m. Monday, according to police.

DeSantis confessed to a family member that he had shot Barrett, according to Southington police.

Investigators initially thought the shooting happened in Naugatuck, but no victims were found there and Naugatuck police then reached out to Southington police, who located Barrett. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy.

Police said Barrett was the mother of teens and lived in the Southington home with her grandmother, who was sleeping at the time of the shooting.

DeSantis had children who are in their 20s, according to police. 

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