Grandma Shot Self, Grandsons in Car After Pick Up From Day Care

A grandmother fatally shot her two grandsons and herself inside a car after picking them up from day care in Connecticut.

The 47-year-old woman Debra Denison and her grandsons, 2-year-old Alton Perry and 6-month-old Ashton Perry bodies were discovered Tuesday night near Lake of Isles in the town Preston just two hours after an Amber Alert was issued.

The grandmother known for her struggles with mental illness and bipolar disorder convinced the boy's mother Brenda Perry, for her to go pick up her grandsons alone. Although Perry said the boys were too much for her, but Denison insisted.

Then Perry asked Denison to take along another relative, which she didn't and now the family and town are wondering if anything could have prevented what occurred next.

Denison left her home armed with a revolver on Tuesday afternoon. Perry worried called the police around 4 p.m., when she didn't hear back from either the boys or their grandmother.

An Ambler Alert was issued around 7:30 p.m. when a family member discovered a suicide note left by Denison.

"The mother's level of concern raised, and she reported them missing and evidence was found soon thereafter that rose our level of concern for the Amber Alert," Lt. Paul Vance, of State Police, told NBC.

When authorities "retained that information, we ramped it up additionally and did everything we could, used every tool to attempt to locate these three people," Vance said.

Nikki Salaun, director of the Kidds &Co. daycare center shared that the grandmother was friendly and talkative when picking up the children and didn't give any indication of distress.

State police did not officially determine if they all died of the gunshot wound, but autopsies were planned.