Missing Connecticut grandma shot and killed herself and her 2 young grandsons
A policeman puts tape across Church Street in Enfield on August 8, 2011 in London, England.
A Connecticut grandma who picked up her two young grandsons from daycare to bring them to the 2-year-old's birthday party instead drove them to a nearby town and shot and killed the boys and herself.
According to the Associated Press, the bodies of Debra Denison, 47, and her two grandsons, 2-year-old Alton Perry and 6-month-old Ashton Perry, were found Tuesday night in a parked car near Lake of Isles in Preston.
More from GlobalPost: Denver mother and 2 children shot to death in murder-suicide (VIDEO)
State police said Wednesday the deaths were a double murder-suicide and that they believed Denison had shot the boys and herself.
"She was found in the possession of a handgun," Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance said of Denison, reported the Boston Herald. "We recovered a suicide note."
Vance did not say where the children were located in the car or where they were shot, but that autopsies are expected to be performed tomorrow. He also said he was not aware of Denison having any trouble with the police prior to the double murder-suicide.
The two boys' paternal grandmother, Donna Connors, said their parents, Jeremy and Brenda Perry, are devastated.
"I just feel if she wanted to do herself in, why did she have to take two innocent babies with her," Connors told The Day Connecticut.
She also said that Brenda had asked Denison to pick the boys up so that Alton wouldn't have to spend his entire birthday at daycare.
The AP noted that family members said Denison suffered from bipolar disorder and had a history of mental health problems.
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!