A retired Connecticut corrections lieutenant is facing manslaughter charges because he helped his cancer-stricken wife kill herself by holding a gun to her head as she pulled the trigger, state police said.

Kevin Conners, 65, of Westbrook, surrendered to state police Thursday after telling investigators he helped his 61-year-old wife, Lori, end her life in the couple’s home after they went to bed on Sept. 6. Conners initially told police his wife of 42 years had shot herself, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Middletown Press.

Conners told authorities that “he loved his wife very much,” but could no longer watch her suffer from cancer that had spread to her colon, liver, abdomen and back after she was diagnosed last year, the affidavit states.

Conners said chemotherapy left his wife — who had also battled Lyme disease for nearly two decades — “very sick and not wanting to live,” prompting her to write more than 13 signed letters to relatives in which she apologized for taking her own life, police said.

Lori Conners had previously tried to commit suicide early last year, her husband said, which investigators later confirmed via medical records.

She had also told her husband and her four children that she “wanted to be with God,” according to the warrant.

Police said Conners told a dispatcher that his wife took her own life by shooting herself in the head with a handgun shortly after they went to bed.

Responding cops then found him pacing outside their home, while Lori Conners was found by authorities with a gunshot wound to her left temple and a silver revolver on a pillow next to her, according to the warrant.

Conners later admitted that he agreed to hold the gun after police found holes in his account, but was “adamant he did not pull the trigger,” the warrant states.

Conners, who retired as a lieutenant after 24 years with the state’s Department of Correction, turned himself in after state police obtained a warrant for his arrest on a second-degree manslaughter charge. His bail was set at $50,000 and he’s set to be arraigned in Superior Court in Middletown on Friday, the Middletown Press reports.

Lori Conners, meanwhile, was remembered as an avid gardener who loved architecture and history. She is survived by her husband and four children, according to her obituary.

“Her favorite pastime of all, though, was spending time with her children and grandchildren; nothing brought a smile to her face like they did,” the obituary read. “She will be dearly missed, and we will all grieve the loss for a long time. We can, however, find solace in knowing her suffering is no more.”