Seattle man says he shot and killed his neighbor in self defense
He wanted his name withheld for privacy reasons, but tells us that the neighbor had been carrying a gun through the halls and calling his family crude names for quite some time.
He wanted his name withheld for privacy reasons, but tells us that the neighbor had been carrying a gun through the halls and calling his family crude names for quite some time.
“We haven’t felt safe in here for a while,” he said.
The U-District resident, his girlfriend and young son and stepdaughter had lived in the Abora Court Apartments for around three years without incident until their neighbor moved in. The family says he installed cameras on brackets that pointed into and around their apartment.
He says when he mentioned the cameras and concerns over privacy to his neighbor, the man became agitated and then started threatening his family, sometimes while holding a gun.
He says strange writings also started appearing on the walls around the family’s unit with crude language. A fire also mysteriously started at his family’s front door, the burn marks still evident on the wood and carpet.
He says the apartment complex put up a camera following the fire, and that camera was taken into evidence by detectives.
On Christmas Day, he went to take the elevator to check the mail and said the neighbor spotted him from down the hall near the laundry room.
He says his neighbor then started calling him names and charged at him.
Then, he says the neighbor hit him and he pulled out a handgun in self-defense.
He’s been cooperating with police and is hoping to move out of the apartment complex.
The man also told us that he had asked the apartment complex and the manager to do something about the neighbor or to provide an emergency move for the family. He said he also reported some of the incidents to police, but said that nothing happened following those reports.
