Father, 72, Alert After Suburban Triple Shooting

State Police are investigating a triple shooting in which two people were killed and one was seriously wounded at 55 Brook Lane, a quiet street in North Branford where the houses are split-level and the pine trees rise high. Detectives are now piecing together the evidence to try to figure out who shot whom and where inside the house. 

At about 7:30 p.m. Saturday night, North Branford Police Spokesman Lt. David D’Ancicco said, police received a 911 call reporting possible shots fired inside the home. He said detectives arrived at the house, where they found three victims of gunshot wounds. Apparently the three were found on different levels in the house, which was built in 1959. 

What is now known is that Meridith P. Fletcher, 39, the mother of two children, believed to be ages 2 and 9, was shot to death in the living room, apparently by her boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, who arrived at the home sometime earlier. North Branford Police have yet to officially release any names connected to the case and have issued no updates as of Sunday.
 
Also shot was Fletcher’s father, Richard L. Fletcher, 72, who may have been on another floor in the house and was trying to come to the aid of his daughter. A bullet hit his abdomen and he went down. But he survived. Police located the shooter on another, higher level of the house. He is believed to have shot himself twice in the stomach and once in the head.

The motive for the killings is not yet known. Nor have police explained the relationship between the couple, whether they were once married or not, whether they lived together, what their relationship was now. According to one report, the ex-boyfriend may have recently been released from prison. Lt. D’Ancicco told reporters Saturday night that he believed a domestic issue prompted the killings.

Neighbors and other records identified the father as Richard Fletcher, who is a well-known figure in the neighborhood. He has lived there for decades, but now only during the summer. One neighbor told the Eagle that Fletcher and his wife live in Scottsdale, Ariz., most of the year and return to their former home during the summer months. It appears that his wife, Jean, was not in the house at the time. She may have been with the grandchildren visiting neighbors across the street. 

Meridith Fletcher and her ex-boyfriend, 42, were dead when police arrived at the house soon after the 7:30 p.m. 911 call. But the father was still alive. The town of Branford’s paramedics were summoned to the scene at 8:10 p.m., after receiving a call for two ambulances. They were called because the town of North Branford’s only ambulance was out on call and unavailable, according to Branford Fire Chief Jack Ahern. Why it took so long to summon the Branford Fire Department has not yet been explained.

Branford paramedics flew to the scene, located just over the Branford- North Branford line, in four minutes. Chief Ahern said the ambulances arrived at 55 Brook Lane at 8:14 p.m. to find two people dead and one critically injured. The Branford paramedics immediately rushed Richard Fletcher to Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is reportedly in critical condition as of Sunday but he is believed to be alert and talking, a source told the Eagle.

One scenario under review is that the ex-boyfriend set out to murder Meridith Fletcher, not knowing that her father would be in the house.

Police have not yet ruled out another theory in which Meridith’s father, reacting to the shooting of his daughter in the living room, may have tried to help her and in the process attempted to shoot her assailant before he himself was shot. 

A forensic autopsy by the state’s medical examiner is expected to be performed to determine if the assailant committed suicide. 

The trajectory of the bullets that entered each of the bodies along with the gun residue also will be critical in figuring out what happened.

“At this juncture we can’t presume it was a murder-suicide,” said one source with knowledge of the case. ​“We need a forensic examination.”

Neighbors who have known each other for years were standing on their front porches or on the street as word traveled. They appeared stunned by the developments as police cars and fire vehicles arrived at the scene, lighting up the street.

“The street is in shock,” said one neighbor who said that the crime of murder is practically unknown in North Branford. There have been no murders in North Branford at least since 1999.

The neighbor said she knew the family at 55 Brook Lane. ​“We first thought the two of them had been killed and this guy was on the loose on the street. Everyone is locking their doors and then it changed so quickly. We heard the gunman was dead. It is a very, very sad situation,” the neighbor said. 

In an apparent effort to quell rumors that the gunman might still be at large, Lt. D’Ancicco told reporters shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday that he wanted to assure the community that the violence was an isolated event, that it pertained only to this address and that there was no threat to the community.

On Saturday night he would not identify those who were shot to death or were wounded, saying next of kin had to be notified first. There were no new updates Sunday although earlier in the day North Branford police said to expect one.

Richard and Jean Fletcher lived together on Brook Lane in the 1970s. They had two children, Meridith and Steven, according to a neighbor who lived on the block back then. It is believed that at one time Richard Fletcher worked for the New Haven Register in the production department.

A story in this morning’s Register confirmed that Fletcher worked for the New Haven Register for 27 years. He then went to the Connecticut Post in Bridgeport. He won $6.3 million on a lottery ticket purchased in 1995, according to Register archives. Click here to read their story.

At some point in the mid-1990s, Richard Fletcher lived on Kenwood Lane in Branford before moving West. He apparently kept his old home at 55 Brook Lane, where his daughter and grandchildren were living at the time of the crime. 

Sally E. Bahner contributed to this story.

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