Man kills former wife, wounds self, police say

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- A former state trooper fatally shot his former wife, wounded her lawyer, and then shot himself on a parking deck outside a courthouse where they were scheduled to appear yesterday morning, law enforcement officials said.

Police did not immediately release the names of the people involved, but Hartford Hospital listed Waterbury lawyer Julie Porzio in stable condition.

Former state trooper Michael Bochicchio Jr., whose former wife, Donna, was represented by Porzio in their divorce, was listed in critical condition at the hospital.

An investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said that Bochicchio was the shooter.

''He had a beautiful family. You know how people say you wouldn't have expected it? Well, I really wouldn't have expected it," said Marie M. Knudsen, first selectman in Harwinton, where Bochicchio was once a member of the Republican committee and the Board of Assessment Appeals.

Public Safety Commissioner Len Boyle said Bochicchio was a retired state trooper.

He also served as a contract federal court security officer, US Marshal John Bardelli said.

Porzio, the wife of former Waterbury mayor Joseph Santopietro, was upgraded from critical to stable condition yesterday afternoon.

The shooting occurred just after 9:30 a.m. on the top deck of a city-owned garage behind the courthouse overlooking Middletown's police department.

Paul Tofil of East Hartford said he was working at an auto shop just below the parking deck.

There were initially about eight gunshots, then a pause, and then another shot, he said.

''This happened 30 yards away," Tofil said. ''It freaked me out. I couldn't believe it."

The Bochicchios' divorce case had been ongoing since 2003 and was moved from Litchfield to Middletown for trial, court officials said.

The status of the case was not immediately clear, as investigators seized the court docket, but police referred to the victim as the shooter's former wife.