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James Taylor, 75, was found dead inside a container in the rear of his Bronson Road home Tuesday, Aug. 6, following a standoff with police that began when an alert went off on his court-ordered GPS ankle monitor, Fairfield Police said.
Taylor has been on GPS monitoring since February after being charged with murder, home invasion, criminal attempt to commit murder, burglary, illegal discharge of a firearm and assault in the shooting death of his ex-wife Catherine Taylor.
The standoff began around 5:16 p.m. when the Fairfield emergency communications center received a report that Taylor's GPS monitoring bracelet was receiving a low signal and then the battery had died, said Fairfield Police Capt. Robert Kalamaras.
Officers responded to 270 Bronson road to investigate. Investigators exhausted all means of contacting him through other associated family members and phone numbers before determining that there was a high probability that he was inside the storage container located on the property, Kalamaras said.
"While officers were on the scene, they could hear Taylor’s cell phone ringing inside a storage container that was locked from the inside, indicating that someone would have to be in there to lock it," he said.
To ensure the safety of the public and the responding officers, Emergency Services Unit personnel took a slow and methodical approach to gain access to the storage container, which led to the discovery of James Taylor deceased inside, he added.
“Without the help of our mutual aid partners, Southwest Regional Emergency Response Team, Stamford Bomb Squad, Connecticut State Police, probation and Parole, and AMR, we would not have been able to gain access to the storage container in the safest possible manner," Kalamaras said.
Taylor was arrested after Fairfield Police were called to his stepson's home, Donald Garamella, 45, on Catamount Road around 9:30 a..m. on Feb. 3.
According to police, Taylor allegedly fatally shot Catherine Taylor, 70, with a .22-caliber rifle. He was in the process of reloading to shoot his stepson when Garamella tackled Taylor and managed to grab the gun during a fight.
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