Arrest warrant in deadly Milford home invasion unsealed after suspect’s court appearance
Stuar Lopez-Reyes and Ivan Barias-Florimon are each charged with eight felonies in a deadly home invasion in Milford that killed a 79-year-old man and left his significant other seriously injured on June 3.
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A newly unsealed arrest warrant suggests the motive in a deadly Milford home invasion was revenge for one of the victim’s firing an employee.
Stuar Lopez-Reyes, 25, of Bridgeport, appeared in Milford Superior Court Tuesday morning, where the prosecution withdrew their prior motion sealing his arrest warrant. Lopez-Reyes is one of two men arrested in what Milford police called a targeted attack on an older couple inside their beachside home on June 3. Fred Werner, 69, was shot to death. His significant other, 69-year-old Sandy Cooper, survived a gunshot wound to the head.
Lopez-Reyes and Ivan Barias-Florimon, 24, are each charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, murder in commission of a felony, home invasion, conspiracy to commit home invasion, attempted murder, first-degree assault of an elderly victim and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault of an elderly victim.
The crime happened at 871 East Broadway in the Fort Trumbull Beach neighborhood just before 3 a.m. Police said two intruders entered the beachfront home through a rear sliding door while the couple was asleep, then shot Werner multiple times and Cooper once in the head. Cooper called 911 to report the shooting, and according to Lopez-Reyes’ arrest warrant, told the operator she believed her former employee was somehow involved in the incident.
In an interview with police from the hospital, Cooper said she’d recently fired a woman who worked for her on suspicion of stealing money from her reality business, the warrant said. The employee had been a property manager/personal assistant to Cooper for about three years and had been fired around May 25, per the warrant.
Barias-Florimon rented a room in that former employee's house in Bridgeport for the past few years, the warrant said. He also worked for the former employee's husband at his landscaping company and had done work at Cooper’s home on East Broadway, the warrant said.
Police interviewed the former employee, and she confirmed Barias-Florimon knew she was fired and said he didn't like Cooper. The woman also told police that Barias-Florimon “is known to have a temper,” per the warrant. When police asked if Barias-Florimon might feel like he had to stick up for her, she got emotional and said, "Of course I feel that way," describing him as "an entitled child," according to the warrant. She also told police she “was sure” he was capable of shooting someone because she had the impression that he was in a gang, the warrant said.
Police used license plate readers to identify the vehicle used in the crime as a gray Jeep Compass, according to the warrant. The vehicle is registered to the ex-employee’s husband, the warrant said, but the ex-employee told police Barias-Florimon had a key to it.
The warrant also included text messages between Barias-Florimon and the fired employee in which the woman talked about concerns Cooper would go to the police. Responses from Barias-Florimon included, “I’ll make sure anybody she get has an accident,” “I’ll make her life hell,” “I’m with anything you guys wanna do,” and “Sandy needa have a heart attack.”
Reyes-Lopez returns to court Sept. 10 where he will have a new attorney. The Office of the Public Defender had been assigned to the case, but in court Tuesday, Senior Assistant Public Defender Kenneth Bunker said, “I'm told by Mr. Lopez-Reyes that his family has hired Attorney Darnell Crosland.”
Barias-Florimon is back in court Aug. 18.
Both suspects are being held on $3 million bond.
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