A possible motive behind a deadly home invasion in Milford, Connecticut, has been revealed in newly unsealed court documents. The invasion, which occurred on June 3, left a 69-year-old man dead and a woman injured.

Investigation Details

According to an arrest warrant for Stuar Lopez-Reyes, 25, investigators are looking into whether the attack may have been connected to a dispute involving the woman who survived the shooting. The woman had recently fired an employee on suspicion of stealing money from her business.

Lopez-Reyes and Ivan Barias-Florimon, 24, have been arrested in connection with the home invasion. Barias-Florimon had a personal connection to the former employee and had previously done landscaping work at the East Broadway home.

The former employee told investigators that Barias-Florimon knew she had been fired and did not like her former employer. When asked if she thought Barias-Florimon might feel like he had to stick up for her, she became emotional and responded, “Of course I feel that way.”

Text messages between Barias-Florimon and the former employee from the days after she was fired were also obtained by investigators. In one exchange, Barias-Florimon wrote, “I’ll make her life hell,” referring to the woman who survived the shooting.

Lopez-Reyes, of Bridgeport, was arrested in New Haven on July 31. Barias-Florimon, of the Bronx, New York, was arrested in New York City on Aug. 4. Both men have been charged with murder, murder in commission of a felony, home invasion, and assault in the first degree of an elderly victim.

Original reporting: NBC Connecticut (Hartford) — read the source article.