• 86-year-old woman charged after bringing BB gun to town meeting, police say


    By LeAnne Gendreau, NBCConnecticut.com

    CONNECTICUT -- Westport police arrested an 86-year-old woman accused of bringing a BB gun to a town meeting. 

    When detectives retrieved the gun, Estelle Margolis, 86, of Westport, Conn., told officers she brought it to make a point during a discussion about gun control to show how easy it is to purchase a gun, according to police. 

    At 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, a Representative Town Meeting member approached a Westport police officer and reported that he and another RTM member believed a woman walked into the auditorium with what they believed was a weapon under a white cloth, police said.

    Read more at NBCConnecticut.com

    The Westport officer and a detective retrieved the rifle from the auditorium where the public meeting was in session and then found Margolis in the main lobby, police said.

    Officers determined that the rifle was a BB gun rifle and Margolis told officers that she was planning to go up on the stage when the topic of gun control came up and make a point to the audience on how easy it was for her to purchase the gun, according to police.
    In addition to the BB gun rifle, the woman had a box of 46-caliber pellets with her at the meeting, police said.

    Margolis was issued a misdemeanor summons for breach of peace second and is due in court date.

    “Regardless of what her reasoning was to bring the BB gun rifle to the meeting, it was a poor decision that created alarm and concern to the public. This incident could have clearly escalated into a tragedy,” police said in the news release.

  • Spanish police arrest suspect in shooting of Conn. jeweler

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff reports

    A man suspected of killing a jeweler in the tony town of Westport, Conn., last month and stealing $300,000-worth of diamonds has been arrested in Spain, federal authorities said.

    Andrew Robert Levene, 41, was charged Tuesday with shooting and killing Yekutiel Zeevi, 65, at Zeevi’s office in a shopping center on Dec. 8. It was the first murder in Westport, former home of domestic guru Martha Stewart, since 1996.

    According to a federal criminal complaint filed in Washington, D.C., and reported by the Connecticut Post, Levene met with Zeevi in the shop, located in a locked second-floor suite, pretending he was going to purchase several large diamonds he had arranged to buy earlier that month.

    Once inside, he pulled out a gun and shot Zeevi and a business associate, authorities said.

    Levene fled the U.S. on a flight from Philadelphia to the Netherlands and then went on to Spain, authorities allege.  He was arrested by Spanish national police on Monday. 

    U.S. Attorney for Connecticut David Fein said Levene will face federal murder and attempted murder charges.  It was not immediately clear when Levene might be sent back to Connecticut for trial or whether he had an attorney.

    Zeevi's business associate, Ronen Konfino, 48, of New York City, survived the shooting and had been able to help police with their investigation, the Connecticut Post reported.

    Use of a firearm
    Levene was formally charged with one count of federal murder, one count of attempted murder, one count of causing death through the use of a firearm and one count of interference with commerce through robbery, Fein said.

    According to the Post, authorities said that Levene contacted Zeevi's business in early December and asked Zeevi if he could find diamonds between 2 and 3 carats in size and valued between $45,000 and $75,000. On Dec. 7, Zeevi and Konfino met Levene, who examined the diamonds, but told the owner he would have to "sleep on it" before making a purchase, according to the documents.

    The next day, six diamonds with a total value of approximately $300,000 were shown to Levene, who then pulled out a gun and shot both Zeevi and Konfino, according to the documents. Zeevi was pronounced dead after being taken to Norwalk Hospital, where Konfino was also treated and later released.

    Eileen Rosen, a friend of the family, told the Post that she was "thrilled that they found him; this is great news for the family. He was very close with his wife. Nothing can bring him back, her heart will ache forever, but I'm just so thrilled that they found him. Everybody in the community loves him."

    Msnbc.com staff contributed to this report from NBCNewYork.com.

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