3 Die in Arson-Home Invasion in Conn.

By SUSAN HAIGH

CHESHIRE, Conn. – Three people were killed Monday after intruders broke into a prominent doctor’s home, held the family hostage for several hours and apparently set the house on fire, police and colleagues of the doctor said.

Authorities surrounded the home on Sorghum Hill Drive after a woman was taken by one of the suspects to a bank and made a withdrawal around 9:30 a.m., police said. Bank employees were suspicious of the transaction and called police, authorities said.

A town police officer saw two men leaving the home as it was engulfed in flames, said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman. The men were arrested after their vehicle struck three police cruisers as they fled the burning house.

State and Cheshire police released few details, including the names of the suspects, the victims or how the three were killed in the home of William Petit Jr., a well-known diabetes specialist.

“In Cheshire we’re not used to this type of event,” town Police Chief Michael Cruess said. “It’s a very unfortunate, tragic event that’s probably going to reach right down to the core of the community.”

Cruess said it was an isolated incident and tried to reassure local residents that the town was safe.

Petit was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, where he was listed in stable condition Monday afternoon, a hospital nursing supervisor said. Police would only say that two of the three people who died were females, and a man who was able to get out of the house provided some information to authorities.

Petit lived in the home with his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their two daughters.

Petit, 50, is the medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate at The Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain, and his wife of 22 years worked at the Cheshire Academy, a boarding school.

Petit is also president of the Hartford County Medical Association and is a noted specialist in diabetes and endocrinology, said Larry Tanner, president and chief executive officer of The Hospital of Central Connecticut. Tanner confirmed that Petit was injured and taken to St. Mary’s Hospital.

“It is a shocking day for everyone. It’s just beyond anyone’s understanding,” Tanner said.

He said Petit has a large practice and “wears many hats.”

“He’s my doctor,” Tanner said. “He is so well known.”

Petit has led the diabetes center for 10 years and has a private practice in Plainville, according to The Hospital of Central Connecticut. He received his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y.

Staff at Cheshire Academy were trying to confirm the news Monday afternoon, said spokeswoman Colleen Reilly.

“Everyone here is devastated. So, we are still in shock,” Reilly said.

“It’s just a very difficult day here. We are just finding about it now,” said Philip Moore, director of communications for the school.

Hawke-Petit, 48, worked at the boarding and day school as co-director of its health center, taking care of students and faculty there, Moore said.

“She was very good at educating kids about good health, not just taking care of them when they are not feeling well,” Moore said.

The Rev. Ronald A. Rising, a neighbor, said he has known the family for more than 10 years.

“They’re just a lovely family,” he said. “It’s just awful to think it would happen to a family like that in this community. You don’t think about those things happening.”

The upper-middle class neighborhood includes colonial homes with well-kept lawns.

Cheshire, a suburb with a population of more than 29,000, is just east of Waterbury and about 15 miles north of New Haven.