Guy With A Weedwhacker: A Threat?

[JohnKSa]

From listening to your side of the story, my take is that if anything ever goes really badly wrong between the two of you, the survivor (probably you) is going to jail.

Yeah, he's going out of his way to be a jerk, but my guess is that the DA (and probably the jury) won't look kindly on the fact that you chose to introduce a firearm into a neighborhood spat.

Let's say that the confrontation in question had turned violent and you had ended up shooting him. Here's how it would likely play. You saw your nextdoor neighbor in your backyard, a person who is openly hostile towards you but who has never offered any violence. You chose to go outside with a gun and confront him even though you could plainly see that all he was doing was trimming the grass around his fence. He ends up shot. Not gonna look good.

 

[hso]

I think we've answered the question of whether a string trimmer is a lethal weapon and whether a lethal response is remotely defensible (No and NO).

The issue of whether the guy is a real threat to the safety of the OP and his family can't be answered here.

The OP needs to consider meeting with the other neighbors to find out if they feel threatened by the bully neighbor, file complaints with the police whenever trespass and threats by the bully neighbor take place, seek a restraining order against the neighbor based on the complaints, and as the landlord if a privacy fence separating the properties could be built so that a clear violation of the security of his home would have to occur before getting involved in another confrontation with the neighbor, AND remember that anger is never the basis for a justifiable defensive shooting, only fear. Being pissed and fed up with the neighbor sure doesn't communicate real fear.

 

[jahwarrior]

there's been a lot of good advice offered here, and some not-so-good advice. thanks, everyone. again, i'm looking to avoid a confrontation, but i need to figure out how to stop this guy from just doing what he pleases, and trespassing. i'm afraid he's just going to escalate his behavior, if i simply let him continue to do what he wants.