Connecticut city official and landlord gunned down her tenant, police say
A Connecticut landlord fatally shot her tenant Thursday to end a long-running dispute, police said.
Ellen Wink, 61, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kurt Lametta, 54, in Norwalk.
Wink is Norwalk’s Republican deputy registrar of voters, and she owns houses at 18 Nelson Ave. and 16 Nelson Ave. in the city. Lametta was the tenant at 16 Nelson Ave.
Police said Wink intended to kill Lametta when she walked into 16 Nelson Ave. on Thursday afternoon, the Stamford Advocate reported. The two had been feuding since September 2020, and prosecutors called her actions “clearly deliberate.”
Wink’s defense team argued that she only acted in self-defense, according to the Advocate. She claimed that Lametta attacked her and she fired five shots to protect herself.
Wink was arrested at the scene and jailed on $1 million bail.
Thursday was not the first time cops were called to 16 Nelson Ave. while Lametta lived under Wink, the Hartford Courant reported. Wink was arrested in September 2021 after police said she locked Lametta out and threw many of his belongings in the trash. That legal case has not concluded.
Prosecutors said the dispute went all the way back to September 2020, when Lametta reportedly stopped paying rent, according to the Advocate.
In addition to her registrar work, Wink served as Norwalk’s city clerk from 2009 to 2011. She ran unsuccessfully for a Connecticut state representative seat in 2020. Wink was arraigned Friday and is due back in court Feb. 1.
