A dispute between neighbors turned deadly after one man pulled out a gun and fatally shot the other man at point-blank range.
Surveillance footage shows two couples in Escazú, Costa Rica, getting into a heated argument that took a dramatic turn.
Video of the incident on Monday shows the couples shouting at their adjoining properties in the Rio Palma condominium complex, before the confrontation spills out to the front yard.
One of the neighbors, Otoniel Orozco Mendoza, escalated the verbal altercation to physical, throwing punches at his neighbor Eduardo Ramírez Zamora.
In retaliation, Zamora pulled out his gun and opened fire on Mendoza, firing at least nine shots at point-blank range and killing him instantly.
A dispute between neighbors in Costa Rica turned deadly after one man pulled out a gun and shot the other man to death at point-blank range.
Video of the incident shows the couples shouting in their adjoining properties, before the confrontation spills into the front yard.
The victim’s wife is seen screaming and running as shots were fired while Zamora’s wife attempted to pull him back to prevent her husband from continuing to fire his gun as they fled the scene.
First responders pronounced Mendoza dead at the property.
The dispute began over a shared water valve according to La Prensa.
Zamora was arrested after the incident and will spend three months in preventive detention.
Relatives of the deceased declared to Costa Rican media that there have been conflicts between Zamora and Mendoza for a long time.
‘Before this man committed that atrocity, my sister had already reported him on many occasions and the authorities never did anything,’ Dayli Avendaño, the deceased’s sister-in-law, informed CR Hoy.
In the photo: Otoniel Orozco Mendoza, 53, died after being shot nine times at close range by neighbor Eduardo Ramírez Zamora.
In the photo: Eduardo Ramírez Zamora, who shot Mendoza dead
Orozco’s sister-in-law said that the aggressor spied on them every day to verbally fight with the now deceased and claims that he even harassed the Nicaraguan’s children.
On the other hand, Zamora’s father said that the fights between these two neighbors began months ago without specifying how many months ago and said that the conflict began due to renovations in Mendoza’s house and that on the day of the incident, Mendoza attacked Zamora’s wife. Zamora. Zamora said he acted in self-defense.
Mendoza, 53, was a businessman originally from Nicaragua and worked in private security. He is survived by his wife, his daughter and his son.