Conn. Man Charged With Threatening Lesbian Sister, Other Relatives

A man in Plainville, Conn., was arrested Christmas Day after making threats to members of his family, including a threat to kill his sister because she is a lesbian.

Gordon Bissonnette, 46, was arrested after his mother, Clelie, told police he said he'd kill her if she saw her lesbian daughter on Christmas and his brother, Brian, brought the police's attention to hostile voice-mail messages left by Gordon since mid-December, the New Britain Herald reports.

Regarding the sister, Corinne, Gordon Bissonnette said on a recent voice mail, "If she [expletive] with my child again, I will execute her myself. Corinne, if she goes against me, there will be bullets flying. She cannot talk to me. I wanna execute her. I will kill a gay." He also threatened Corinne's wife, saying, "I'll put a bullet in both their heads. If they turn my daughter gay, I'm gonna kill them both. I'm gonna blow their brains out."

Gordon Bissonnette told police he did leave the messages but was drunk at the time and didn't remember what he said, the Herald reports. He also said he planned to set off a smoke bomb at his sister's Christmas celebration, expecting that she and her wife would think it was a gunshot and "freak out."

Police captain Brian Mullins told The Hartford Courant that Gordon Bissonnette does not own a gun and did not attempt to carry out his threats. He is angry and "fearful of the influence members of his family, both gay and straight, are having on his daughter," who is 18, Mullins said.

Bissonnette is charged with second-degree intimidation due to a bias, second-degree threatening, and second-degree harassment, according to both newspaper reports. He is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Bristol January 24. The court has issued orders of protection on behalf of his mother, his brother, his sister, and her wife, stipulating that he have no contact with them.