Thomas MacMillan Photo
(Updated: 3:33 p.m.)
Electrix Photo
Police are investigating a “family dispute” in which a man allegedly killed his brother in the parking lot of their family business, then took his own life — sending a major blow to a small company in the Hill that lights architectural landmarks around the country.
Police are investigating the Monday morning shooting in the Hill in which they said 44-year-old Daniel Shwisha gunned down his older brother Gordon outside their family business on Spring Street. Shwisha then drove to their parents’ house in Westport and killed himself in the kitchen, cops said.
Gordon, who was 45, ran Electrix, a high-end architectural lighting company employing more than 50 people, with contracts all over the country. Daniel worked there too. Police believe the men got into a dispute over the business.
Cops are investigating the incidents as a murder-suicide, said police spokesman Officer Dave Hartman.
At 7:47 a.m. Monday morning, employees at Electrix, an architectural lighting firm at 45 Spring St. in the Hill, heard gunshots and called the police, according to Hartman. Officers Mark Taylor and Luis Rivera were the first to arrive.
Police found Gordon Shwisha of Woodbridge, the owner of the company, slumped across the driver’s seat in his black Jeep SUV, which was parked right by the door of Electrix, according to Assistant Chief Archie Generoso, who was on scene Monday morning.
Shwisha had been shot. He died of his wounds, Hartman said.
Not long after that, Shwisha’s brother Daniel was found dead in Westport in the kitchen of their parents’ house.
“We’re investigating this as a murder-suicide,” Hartman said.
At 10:55 a.m., police were preparing to remove Gordon Shwisha’s body from his Jeep into a black minivan. Police erected a tarp to block news cameras from filming the body. By 11:10 a.m., the body had been taken away and cops began taking down crime scene tape.
“This was not a random act,” said Generoso. “This was a domestic situation.” He sought to reassure people that the shooting was an isolated incident.
He said police immediately developed a suspect — “this individual’s brother” — after arriving at the scene shortly after the shooting. As they were trying to locate Shwisha’s brother, police received a report of an apparent suicide in Westport.
Generoso said police “feel pretty confident” that the brother was involved in Shwisha’ death in the Electrix parking lot. “We believe there might have been a family dispute over the business.”
He said Daniel had firearms registered in his name.
Generoso said there is no history of police calls from Electrix, apart from an incident weeks ago in which police were called to remove some ammunition that had been found in the building.
Rena Ferri, who lives next door, said she didn’t hear any gunshots Monday morning. She said she was in bed. But her son heard a woman screaming, she said.
“I feel sorry, very sorry,” she said.
Whither Electrix?
Electrix Photo
In an unassuming brick building in the Hill, Electrix has for years been quietly producing high-end light fixtures used in famous architectural landmarks around the country.
The company has been in business for 50 years, according to its website. It’s a family-owned operation, according to state records: Gordon Shwisha is listed as secretary, Haim Shwisha as president, and Daniel Shwisha as director.
“They are a big deal,” said Carlos Eyzaguirre, business development director at New Haven’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC). He said the company has worked nationally and internationally.
Electrix has illuminated such well-known spaces as the New York Times building (pictured), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Lincoln Center in New York, where it created custom submersible LED lights.
Despite its high-profile projects, Electrix has kept a low-profile in town. “It’s a pretty quiet place. You’d hardly know it was there,” said Hill Alderman Jorge Perez.
The company employed 54 people as of 2010, said Eyzaguirre.
“We’ve worked with them closely,” Eyzaguirre said. “They’re a major employer in the Hill.” He said Electrix hired from the community and many employees walk to work.
Electrix moved to New Haven from Stamford around 30 years ago, Eyzaguirre said. The headquarters on Spring Street is used for manufacturing and office space, he said.
“They have always been looking at growing over the years,” he said. Several years ago, before the economy collapsed, Electrix was looking into the possibility of applying for zoning relief for an expansion. Eyzaguirre said EDC advised the company about that and “did some basic business assistance.”
“It’s a terribly tragic thing,” said Eyzaguirre. “I’m assuming the business will survive because there is another family member” involved with the company.
“I think we’re going to have to wait and see after they get through the initial shock and we will call and talk to them, to do what we can to help the employees and the surviving leadership move forward,” Eyzaguirre said.
By midday Monday, word of the deaths had already spread within the lighting industry. A staffer at the International Association of Lighting Design in Chicago, a trade group that Electrix belonged to, said another member had already called to talk about it. At Apex, a lighting distributor in Middletown, staff were grappling with the news.
“It’s a horrible tragedy,” said a worker there.
