A Utah man was fatally shot during a dispute with a neighbor who had been flying a drone to investigate a “commotion” near his home, police said.
The shooting was reported around 10 p.m. Monday in a residential neighborhood in Ogden, north of Salt Lake City. In a 911 call, the alleged shooter — a 25-year-old man — said a verbal altercation had escalated and that he fired “several rounds” from a handgun, the police statement said.
The victim, who was 31, was found dead at the scene. The alleged shooter was arrested on suspicion of homicide.
A police affidavit gave this account:
The younger man said he “heard a commotion coming from a vehicle” and he sent up a drone to investigate. The drone hit a tree. Armed with a handgun, the man went to retrieve the drone, and saw it had been picked up by his neighbor. Surveillance video from a home recorded the two arguing.
The drone’s owner said that when his neighbor put a hand in his pocket and turned toward him, he shot at him. The affidavit indicates seven shots were fired.
A woman who identified herself as the victim’s wife told the Standard-Examiner newspaper that her husband had gone outside to smoke and texted her “about the drone bugging him.”
The alleged shooter is being held without bail and had not been formally charged as of Tuesday.
