Fight over shoveling snow leaves 3 dead in Pennsylvania

Cleveland .com ^ | February 3, 2021 | Cliff Pinckard

[Navy Patriot]

PLAINS, Pennsylvania — An argument between neighbors over shoveling snow turned deadly when a man fatally shot two people, then took his own life, according to reports.

WGAL Channel 8 reports James Goy, 50, and Lisa Goy, 48, were shoveling snow Monday morning from parking spots in front of their residence. Luzerne County prosecutors say the couple was shoveling the snow onto the property of Jeffrey Spaide, 47, who lived across the street.

WNEP Channel 16 reports Spaide also was outside shoveling and asked the couple to stop shoveling snow onto his property. All three began arguing, reports say.

[EEGator]

About 2 hrs from me.
I, however, was never a coalminer.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The guy was teed off. They would have only been able to convict him of 2nd Degree murder, IMO.

[Glad2bnuts]

You are nuttier than a fruitcake. Any person who brings a gun to a verbal argument over NOTHING but one swipe of a snow shovel is insane and should never own a firearm. He shot the female point blank with a pistol. then came back with a rifle to finish them off...OVER ONE SWIPE OF A BROOM OR SHOVEL..the snow on his driveway was no more than 3 inches deep...

Show me that these people started this argument, before judging them. To me, this is a longstanding dislike, and the guy from across the street always backed down. This time, he brought a gun with clear intent to murder.

[BradyLS]

They didn’t deserve what happened to them. But they’d be alive if they heeded his simple request not to dump their snow on his property and kept to themselves. The crazy man didn’t visit them. They visited him and drew aces and eights for their trouble.

[Alberta's Child]

There was two feet of snow in the area during that last storm. There were only three inches of snow on his driveway because he had already come out and shoveled during a lull in the storm that morning.

[pepsi_junkie]

I’m no lawyer or prosecutor but for me it’s not a crime of passion when you shoot someone and then take the time to go inside the house, get a rifle, and then come back out and execute the victims who are lying helpless in the street. That’s pre-meditated murder there. If he’d left it at shooting them with the handgun then the case could be made that it was a moment of passion. But if he’d left it at that maybe they’d still be alive. When he came back and executed them, well, the argument goes away. He was a psycho and unlike others here I’ll say it.

[Moose4]

Holy crap. That’s incredibly disturbing on a lot of different levels.

}:-)4

[Berlin_Freeper]

The shooter, who was challenged to a fist fight looked like a small guy.

[Navy Patriot]

I remember when I was a young man.

An acquaintance wanted me to participate in a practical joke on a friend of mine.

After hearing it, I refused because I thought my friend might get angry when caught unawares by the joke.

They went ahead with the joke anyway, and the jokester lost the sight in one eye when the victim threw the plate of food back after having his face pushed in it.

It ruined all the relationships in the group and the jokester got the most sympathy when he deserved ALL of the blame.

[JonPreston]

Their accents would have fooled me :)

[Navy Patriot]

There are some unusual specifics, but I don’t have enough information to suspect a false flag or entrapment.

[pepsi_junkie]

I've lived next to nuts. They come at you over stupid stuff, taking offense to nonsense like your landscaping lights are too bright or you didn't make a sufficiently wide path when you shoveled snow. At first you play along because you just want peace but you soon realize you can't just lay low and follow their orders because those orders get more nutty and rigid. They want to tell you not to park in the driveway, not to leave your garage door open, when you can have friends over, etc etc. You get mad, you might even have words. I've been there.

I'm about the most benign neighbor you can have, I keep my property up, I promply shovel snow and mow the lawn, I don't have parties often and when I do they are in the daytime typically and never loud. Even if a neighbor is letting their property fall apart I may grumble under my breath but keep my mouth shut. But crazy folk will find something to get pissed about, no matter how hard you try to be the model neighbor.

I never in furstration put a shovel full of snow on their walk (GASP!) but our relationship was far from cordial and I place 100% of the blame on a control freak nut next door. I didn't get shot but if I had it's no comfort to know that Freepers would watch the incident and say I had it coming.

[Navy Patriot]

See my post #51

[BradyLS]

I called Spaide a crazy man earlier at least once. Now can you tell me why the Goys found it necessary to heap snow on his property and verbal abuse on his head? The prosecuter stated that’s what happened before the shooting began.

What happened to the Goys wasn’t right. But they were not good neighbors to Spaide that day. Do you really think Spaide would have killed them if they had been good neighbors to him that day?

[pepsi_junkie]

Do you really think Spaide would have killed them if they had been good neighbors to him that day?

I don't know but I don't give the benefit of the doubt to people who execute helpless unarmed people while they are bleeding out in the street, even if those people are dumb and rude.

[Alberta's Child]

Here's the story as I believe it unfolded ...

1. These neighbors have been arguing with each other for a long time. Snow removal was just part of it.

2. They live on a very narrow street where many of the homes on one side (where the Goys lived) have no garages. Some of them have small paved areas in front of the houses between the house and the street that are used for off-street parking. If you have a deep snowfall there really isn't any place to put the snow.

3. I'm not so sure that these two were dumping snow on "Spaide's property." You can't really see this in any photos from the news story because the ground is covered in snow, but the front of Spaide's lawn ends in a retaining wall that fronts onto a small paved area that runs alongside the street in a place where a sidewalk would usually be located. You can see the wall on the right side of the photo below. I'm pretty sure the area in front of the wall -- where the Goys were probably dumping the snow -- is actually part of the street right-of-way. I say this because if you look at a street view of the area, you'll notice that the utility poles along that side of the street are located about 10-12 feet away from the edge of the street pavement. Also, you can see that the other homes on that side of the street have lawns that extend to the edge of the pavement, but any fences in front of those other homes don't run along the street, Instead, they line up with the retaining wall in front of Spaide's house.

[Alberta's Child]

LMAO.

[BradyLS]

I’m sorry you’ve had to live next to bad neighbors. You sound alright to me.

The story says the Goys visited Spaide first with the snow and abuse. Then came the tragedy. Further back, I don’t know.

Based on the story I read and the neighbors you describe, I still think the Goys would be alive if they had left Spaide alone.

I’m with you that Spaide was crazy and did murderous, life-in-prison-at-best wrong. But I don’t get the impression he would have gone that far if the Goys had been good neighbors that behaved like you.

[Alberta's Child]

I'm not a psychiatrist, but I'm not so sure this guy was a "psycho." He had a military background and was a professional engineer who worked in design and environmental permitting for water/drainage projects.

To me, a "psycho" is someone who shoots people at random or shoots up a school full of kids.

This guy targeted two people who were antagonizing him, and that's it. That doesn't make it right ... but it doesn't mean he's nuts, either.

[Salvavida]

And now there is snow on top of all three of them.