According to The Associated Press, these neighbors have been feuding for years. Things finally came to an end with three Latino men shot dead, and a white man in custody.
According to the police charging documents, the six people who were shot were attending a large party when a dispute broke out over a parking issue. Mireles went to Smith’s home to talk about it and was arguing with Shirley Smith when her son Charles Smith returned home and confronted him. The verbal argument became physical.
Smith pulled out a gun and Mireles tried to grab it before Smith shot Mireles and Segovia. Smith “then stood over Mario Mireles and shot him several more times,” the document says. Smith then went into his house, got a rifle and began firing through a window at people who had come trying to help the mortally wounded men. Smith fatally shot Nicolas Mireles, and wounded Rosalina Segovia, Paul Johnnson and Enner Canales-Hernandez, police said.
Smith surrendered when the police arrived, telling officers he shot the victims because they shot at his house. However, none of the witnesses interviewed saw any of the victims with a firearm, according to the charging documents.
The Smith and Mireles families have had disputes for years, even going to court for help at one point. Mario Mireles sought a peace order petition in September 2016, accusing Shirley Smith of harassing him and their neighbors since he was a child. He accused her of directing racial slurs at him and his family, as well as other neighbors who are Black.
