A man in Watertown, Connecticut shot his girlfriend’s 16-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter in the chest after an argument about smoking in the house.
The Watertown Police Department reported that Sterling Jette Jr. and Della Jette were both pronounced dead after being taken to the local hospital.
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Sterling and Della Jette Were Shot and Killed by Their Mom’s Boyfriend After an Argument About Smoking in the House
Paul Fergusson, the boyfriend, killed himself after shooting the children.
Police
arrived at the house after getting a call around 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday from a
woman who “reported to us her live-in boyfriend was armed and had just shot her
daughter and son.”
When they arrived, Danielle Jette, the children’s mother, told police that her boyfriend and daughter had argued about smoking in the house. Della had been speaking to her mother about how she didn’t like Ferguson smoking in the house and their fighting got loud.
Ferguson
asked Della to quiet down and when she didn’t, he went into the bedroom and
came back into the kitchen with a handgun. He then shot both children while
their mother called 911.
Ferguson,
a convicted felon, and Jette had been dating for about two years and the couple
had just moved in together.
“It’s
traumatic for the whole community, everyone living in Watertown,” police
said. “They had many friends I’m sure, many classmates, and this is very
hard to handle.”
When I’m not hanging out with my three-year-old and husband in Brooklyn, I’m busy writing stories for Mamas Uncut and managing PR + Marketing for Magnolia Bakery, based in New York City. On weekends, you can usually find me at a local park or playground pushing my daughter on the swings, “researching” the best almond croissants in Park Slope or launching into impromptu family dance parties at home, the sidewalk or, every once in awhile, a restaurant bathroom. I’m still trying to master the whole parenting thing, but I have learned that copious amounts of coffee, humor and humility are involved on a daily basis.