A man who is accused of following his 70-year-old former mother-in-law home from a mall and killing her with a baseball bat outside her Trumbull apartment has been charged with murder.
Police said Ylli Shtopaku, 45, of Norwalk, attacked 70-year-old Lida Shape, outside the Ten-Trumbull apartment complex after she returned home with an acquaintance on Monday afternoon.
Stream Connecticut News for free, 24/7, wherever you are.
WATCH HEREShtopaku told police that he blamed Shape for his divorce, according to the arrest warrant.
Police responded to the apartment complex after they received several 911 calls just after 12:30 p.m. Monday from residents reporting that a man was attacking a woman outside the main office building near the entrance and officers.
Get top local Connecticut stories delivered to you every morning with the News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP When they arrived, they found Shape seriously injured. EMS declared her dead at 12:55 p.m., according to the arrest warrant.
Shtopaku told police that he saw his former mother-in-law and another former relative while he was at the food court at Trumbull Mall to order pizza and chicken wings for his children to have when they came home from school and they made eye contact, but did not speak. After that, he followed them from the mall to the apartment building, according to the arrest warrant.
While investigating, police found surveillance video that showed Shtopaku pull up behind the rideshare that Shape arrived home in and call out to her and the other person with her when they got out of the vehicle. Then he grabbed a baseball bat from his trunk as they walked away from him, and he ran past the acquaintance and hit Shape with the bar, according to the arrest warrant.
Local
Shtopaku told police that he blamed his mother-in-law for his divorce, losing his house in Monroe and the fact that he does not have any money, the warrant says.
He said he told Shape that she has killed him his whole life and he has killed her once, then he dropped the bat and waited for police to arrive, according to the arrest warrant.
Shtopaku was charged with murder and he is being held on a $3 million bond. He appeared in court and his bond amount remains the same.
Shtopaku's attorney said his client told him he recently that he'd had a stroke.
Detectives are continuing to investigate and interviewing other family members and witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Trumbull Police at (203) 261-3665.
