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.
No trespassing.
While the boy could have antagonized the old man, the old man could have had a history of antagonizing the neighbors. The man, however, had options. He could have obtained a restraining order or a no contact order from the court which would have prohibited trespass of his property. He also could have put up a fence or barriers to prevent trespassing. However, there is no justification for killing a young man if he simply walked across the guy's lawn.
UNION TOWNSHIP - Fifteen-year-old Larry Mugrage was on his way home to get a video game when he was shot dead, said a neighbor whose teenage stepsons and brother were regular playmates of the victim.
"He was just walking home," Alicia Holt said.
The afternoon shooting followed a confrontation four hours earlier between the teen and another neighbor, 66-year-old Charles Martin, after Mugrage had stepped on the lawn of Martin's Hawthorne Drive home, Holt said.
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"He came out cussing at Larry," said Holt, 24, who lives several houses away from Martin's and Mugrage's homes on the same side of the street. "They just had words."
(snip)
Sunday, Holt's 13-year-old brother, who also lives in the neighborhood, was walking with Mugrage when Martin first confronted them about walking in his yard. The boys told Alicia Holt about the incident, she said.
Mugrage, who spent the four hours between the confrontation and shooting at her house, "was a good kid," Holt said. "He played soccer. He was good in school. All the kids - even the little ones (in the neighborhood) - loved him. He was best friends with my 14-year-old (step)son. They sat on the (school) bus together."
Mugrage's family declined to speak to reporters Monday.
Holt said she was aware of one other incident when Martin had complained about kids walking across his lawn.
He spoke to her husband, saying he would appreciate it if he'd keep the kids from running through his yard, she recalled.
Martin's lawn is void of ornamentation except for a pole flying American and U.S. Navy flags.
"This is a quiet street," Holt said. "Nothing ever happens here."
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060321/NEWS01/603210334/-1/CINCI
So Martin was standing on his porch with his shotgun waiting for the kid?
Premeditated murder, IMO.
That utility marker looks like a skull and cross bones painted on the street.
Right. If there had been vandalism incidents or taunting provocations, that explains the context but unless he had valid reasons to believe his own life or safety were in danger, there is no sound justification to come out of your house and stage a direct confrontation discharging a shotgun at an unarmed high school freshman. And in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon.
That would depend on what state you reside in.
I think here in florida it might be different. A little while ago some kids were ringing this mans doorbell banging on the door at night as a prank and the man shot through the door and killed an unarmed kid. I don't think he was charged?
I have OCD and it serves me well, I've got the most organized warehouse in Houston.
After all, the man did give warnings for five yrs. to the same family. Gotta be careful which buttons you're willing to push these days.
Wanting to shoot someone (over whatever reason) and having a legally "justifiable" reason for doing so can be a slippery slope for some people.
Several years ago, some hoodlum kids jumped our fence and cut across our backyard to attend the party of another neighbor. What they didn't know as they traversed the yard was that they were in what my husband called "poo-alley," our huge dog's favorite area of real estate for "doing her business" and was chock-FULL of "big doggie landmines." There were shoe prints all in it the next morning. I can only hope it was tracked in to the the party house and their own residence. To me, THAT was adequate punishment for the offenders.
Another time a (party attending) teen left his car parked right next to and partially on our front lawn with the windows down. Our automatic sprinklers were set to go off that morning. We spotted the car, but decided to FORGET the sprinklers were set. We stood at the wondow laughing every time the sprinklers blasted into his car. I also camped out by the window to make sure I saw his reaction when he finally staggered to his car around lunch. It was quite hilarious.
In our town, we do not have fences defining the property lines. In the fall, we rake the leaves on our neighbor's property. In the winter, we shovel the snow on our neighbor's sidewalk. While we respect property lines, we live and let live. This old dude appears to be wired a little tight. I mean, the kid walked across the guy's grass. With nothing more, how does that justify the kid's death?
If someone was in my driveway beating on my car, I would confront them with a shotgun. If they did not stop after being confronted I would shoot them, if it was at night I would shoot with out any confrontation.
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