Posted on 03/21/2006 1:38:11 AM PST by beaversmom
BATAVIA, Ohio -- A man who neighbours say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn is charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.
Charles Martin, 66, of Union Township, near this city about 30 kilometres east of Cincinnati, shot next-door neighbour Larry Mugrage in the chest with a shotgun about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police said. The youth was pronounced dead at hospital.
Martin was being held without bond yesterday in Clermont County Jail. Police said he told them he had several disputes about neighbours walking on his lawn. But Union Township police Lieut. Scott Gaviglia said Martin had no criminal history and last called police in 2003.
Martin called 911 on Sunday, saying in a calm voice: "I just killed a kid."
He also tells the dispatcher: "It's been going on for five years ... I've been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up."
STUNS NEIGHBOURHOOD
The deadly shooting stunned those in the neighbourhood and students at Glen Este High School, where Martin was a freshman, and grief counsellors were on hand yesterday.
"I think there's a great deal of shock, for two reasons: because of the age of the victim and just how this occurred, killed over some grass," Gaviglia said.
Neighbours said Martin lived alone quietly, often sitting out in front of his one-storey home with its neat lawn, well-trimmed shrubbery and flag pole with U.S. and navy flags flying.
In his fenced backyard, he had several birdhouses and a shed painted like a small red barn with white trim.
Good grief...
sometimes profanity just isn't enough.
This killer will be defended on here, post haste.
Anyone who can defend murder of this sort is a scumbag.
Plain and simple. So the kid was a punk, and walked across his lawn-- but a shotgun to the chest??
Geeze, I hope he didn't get any blood on his nice lawn. /sarc
The old man (Martin) was still in high school?
He won't get any defense from me. Shoot a kid over a lawn? Sorry. Put him away and throw away the key.
good catch
Sadly, a 'lawn Nazi' has found the 'final solution' God help him. Prayers up for all involved...
Keep off the grass, punk!
66 or 26...get rid of him.
I'd like to see a picture of the lawn first...
He's nuts. You can tell who they are by their meticulous lawns, and if you check their closets, the hangers all go the same way...light switches are all up or down. A little disorder is normal and good for the soul. Only God is perfect.
There likely is a lot more to this story, and the kid and the parents probably enjoyed setting their neighbor off and harassing him. Obviously the parents and kid thought there would be no consequences , not realizing that their neigbor was crazy. The parents could have prevented this, and now their son is gone.
The parents in this story are likely idiots whose son could do no wrong, and assumed their neigbor was not a crazy shooter, they were wrong.
Lesson: Do not bother or willfully harass your neighbors and if you do , even by mistake, AVOID all future contact as much as possible. Your neighbor could be a shooter so treat him/her with politeness and respect, THE WAY YOU ARE SUPPOSED TOO.
Yeah that's a good point, I should have thought of that.
There are private property rights, and then there are civil rights. If he shot this kid merely for walking on his lawn, they should shoot him and leave him lying on his own front lawn. This is murder, plain and simple.
Walking across your lawn is not "destroying your property," and is no justification for shooting someone.
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