The police did not say what might have precipitated the fatal shooting, which led to a murder charge, but the house was the scene of a landlord-tenant dispute several months ago.
An official who helps oversee elections in Norwalk, Conn., was charged with murder on Thursday after police officers responding to a disturbance report found a man who had been fatally shot, law enforcement officials said.
The police did not indicate a motive for the killing, but property records show that the official, Ellen Wink, owns the house where the dead man was found, and The Hour of Norwalk reported that she had been arrested in September after a dispute with a tenant there.
The tenant was not publicly identified at the time beyond his age: 54. The Norwalk police identified the man killed on Thursday as Kurt Lametta, also 54. A police spokesman declined to comment on whether the killing was related to the earlier clash.
Ms. Wink, 61, is the Republican deputy registrar of voters in Norwalk, a city of about 89,000 people an hour northeast of Manhattan on Long Island Sound. She was being held on a $1 million bond, the police said. It was not immediately clear if she had a lawyer.
Several local officials said in interviews that Mr. Lametta’s family, which owns a construction company, had deep ties in Norwalk and that its members were well known locally. Family members either did not respond to messages or could not immediately be reached.
“I think we’re all in a bit of shock,” said Mayor Harry Rilling, a Democrat.
In a news release, the police said Mr. Lametta “had sustained multiple gunshot wounds” when officers responding to the disturbance call found him at the house on Nelson Avenue shortly before noon.
Ms. Wink was at the house, and she was immediately detained, the police said. About an hour later, she was arrested and charged with murder, the police said. She lives in the house next door, which she also owns, according to the police and property records.
Reporting on the earlier conflict, The Hour, citing Sgt. Sofia Gulino of the Norwalk police, said Ms. Wink’s tenant had told officers that he had been living in the house for a year and had come home on a Saturday to find that Ms. Wink had locked him out and thrown away his clothes, jewelry, cash and other belongings.
Ms. Wink did not dispute the tenant’s account, and she had refused to let him into the house, The Hour reported. When she ignored officers’ warnings and requests that she do so, she was arrested and charged with criminal lockout, first-degree criminal mischief and fourth-degree larceny, The Hour reported.
Connecticut’s online court docket shows one active criminal case against Ms. Wink, with a next scheduled appearance date in April. Records in the case are otherwise sealed. She is scheduled to appear in court on the murder charge on Feb. 1, officials said.
Ms. Wink previously served as Norwalk’s city clerk and ran unsuccessfully for the state House of Representatives in 2020, losing to the Democratic incumbent by a 2-to-1 margin.
Richard A. Moccia, a former Republican mayor of Norwalk whose time in office overlapped with Ms. Wink’s stint as city clerk, recalled her in an interview as a “free spirit” and an “independent thinker” who owned a sports car and a motorcycle. He declined to comment on the specifics of the criminal case, saying he had “no idea what happened.”
Fred Wilms, acting chairman of the Norwalk Republican Town Committee, also declined to comment on the matter.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
