The pistol-packing grandma. Y'all mind your watering restriction edicts or suffer the consequences, ya hear?
Posted on 07/29/2006 12:51:15 PM PDT by Dysart
FORT WORTH -- Tensions in a north Fort Worth neighborhood are flaring after police say a 71-year-old woman, who has a history of videotaping perceived wrongdoing on her street, pulled a revolver out of her handbag and fired at a neighbor who confronted her.
Charlesetta Davis was arrested Monday on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police say she shot at a neighbor whose home she had been videotaping because she believed that the owners were violating city water restrictions.
Raymundo Rubio, 46, said Friday that he asked Davis why she was filming his house in the 2700 block of Northwest 35th Street and that she ordered him off her property.
Rubio said that when he told her he was not on her property but on the sidewalk, Davis reached into her bag, pulled out a gun and fired once in his direction as his wife and two children watched from their front porch.
He said she missed him by just a few feet.
"I don't know what she was thinking," Rubio said. "I don't know what she is doing outside with a gun and a video camera. I was really afraid for my children. They were outside. They saw everything."
Davis was released from the Mansfield Jail on Thursday after posting a $5,000 bond. At her pastor's recommendation, she went to John Peter Smith Hospital, but she was discharged Friday after a doctor found that she posed no acute risk to herself or others, according to a document she showed the Star- Telegram.
Still, tensions continued to mount Friday. As Davis stood in front of her home, video camera in hand, one young neighbor who had just driven up pulled out his own gun and shouted obscenities as he made his way toward the woman. He was quickly intercepted by other neighbors, who encouraged him to put the weapon away and leave her alone. He went inside a home and later came outside with a rifle.
Davis went inside her home.
Concerning Monday's incident with Rubio, Davis said she was in her front yard, filming perceived water-restriction violations, when she saw Rubio put something in his pocket and approach her home.
"I said, 'Well, Lord, I better get up and get my gun.' I said, 'It looks like I'm going to have problems,'" Davis said.
Davis said Rubio stopped on the top step of her walkway, just outside her chain-link fence, and cursed at and threatened her. She said she only shot at the ground near him after he refused to leave and appeared to be pulling something from his pocket.
"If I wanted to kill him, there were still five bullets left in the gun," Davis said. "I shot to warn him to get off my property and let him know I meant business. Don't come over here aggravating me and threatening me."
Davis said she then went in the house, called 911 and told dispatchers what she had done.
"I said I was protecting my property and myself," Davis said.
Rubio denied threatening Davis or pulling anything from his pocket. His wife, Claudia Rubio, said she was hand-watering her plants and trees with a hose, as is allowed by the city.
Lt. Dean Sullivan, a police spokesman, said neighbors who witnessed the incident Monday gave accounts similar to Rubio's.
In April 2004, police responded to a report in the same block that Davis had brandished a gun at a different neighbor. According to that police report, Davis complained to officers that the neighbor was continually washing grass clippings onto her property and that "she wasn't going to shoot anybody but she has the right to defend her property."
She was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital on an emergency mental application after officers noticed Davis making hand signals to a helicopter overhead, the report states.
Davis said Friday that she was kept under observation at the hospital for nine days before doctors discharged her, telling her that she was fine. She denies having mental problems and said she takes medication only for seizures.
Sullivan said that because of the seriousness of Monday's incident, Davis was arrested rather than being hospitalized.
"Based on the elements of the offense that were present and fact that she actually discharged a gun in the direction of another person, our options were limited at that point and a decision to arrest was made," he said.
Neighbors differ in their opinions of Davis.
Ernestine White, 88, and her daughter insist that Davis is not a bad person but rather a longtime resident who has done much good for the neighborhood, including circulating petitions and pushing the city for stop signs, streetlights and speed bumps.
Gwen Williams said Davis has videotaped her home and complained about her to the city.
"Everybody on the street has had problems," Williams said. "Every time you look around, she's got that camera messing with people. ... It's wrong. She just keeps up trouble."
Harmond Hill, 55, said he thinks the city needs to get Davis help before she gets hurt.
"If somebody comes at you with a gun, what choice do you have but defend yourself?" Hill said. "Nobody wants to see her hurt."
IN THE KNOW
Water restrictions
The Fort Worth City Council has imposed the following water restrictions through Sept. 30:
Landscape watering is prohibited between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., except for watering by hand or with a soaker hose.
A property owner, tenant or manager can be cited if a substantial amount of water is allowed to flow onto sidewalks or streets or if the property is watered during rain.
Sprinklers must not have broken or missing sprinkler heads and must be maintained to prevent waste.
SOURCE: Fort Worth Water Department Web site.
The pistol-packing grandma. Y'all mind your watering restriction edicts or suffer the consequences, ya hear?
She's got a video camera on her property. My recommendation to her neighbors is a) stay off her property, and b) remember she's videotaping whatever you're doing.
Seems to me that she's not breaking any laws.
c) she's armed, and willing to shoot.
Except maybe the reckless discharge of a firearm. I don't think anything in the story (including her account) justifies that, do you?
Maybe some day she'll shoot the mailman.
No doubt it was a black helicopter.
ping
What a maroon. Hasn't got anything better to do that videotape her neighbors violating the water ordinance. Idiot woman ought to be exiled to a Democrat (I refuse to say blue) state where she'll fit in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.