A small Connecticut town was left reeling in grief and confusion after a popular teacher shot dead a masked knife-wielding prowler – only to discover it was his 15-year-old son.

At a loss to explain what he was doing dressed in black, carrying a weapon

No immediate charges were brought against Jeffrey Giuliano for the killing of his son Tyler, who was gunned down in his aunt’s driveway next door to his own home at around 1am on Thursday.

“It’s something out of a Hollywood script,” said John Hodge, the first selectman (top elected official) in New Fairfield, a town of nearly 14,000 people about 50 miles from New York City.

State police spokesman Lt Paul Vance said the boy had never been in trouble with the law and some of those who knew him described him as a good kid with an asygoing personality. Investigators and acquaintances said they were at a loss to explain what he was doing outside dressed in black and carrying a weapon.

“Certainly, that is the major question we are trying to answer at this point,” Lt Vance said.

State police said the shooting happened after Giuliano received a call from his sister next door, saying someone might be trying to break into her home in their neighbourhood of attractive colonial-style houses.

Mr Giuliano grabbed a handgun and went outside to investigate, troopers said.

He confronted someone in a ski mask and opened fire when the person came at him with something shiny in his hand, police said.

When police officers arrived, Tyler was lying dead in the driveway with a knife in his hand and his father, in T-shirt and shorts, was sitting on the grass.

Detectives informed the elder Giuliano several hours later that he had shot his son, Lt Vance said.

“All in all it’s a tragedy,” the officer said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.