Sentenced: Man Shot To Death In Dispute With Armed Couple Angry About Fireworks On July 4th

[Sugar Cookie]

An Independence Day dispute over fireworks led to a fatal shooting in Aurora, Colorado on Thursday.

According to the arrest affidavit, a man and woman who work for the Department of Corrections became upset when a 14-year-old boy, 9-year-old girl and their mother began lighting fireworks at an apartment complex.

Scott Mathews and his girlfriend, Katherine O'Neal, argued with the group, saying that the fireworks scared their dog. Both were armed with handguns when they confronted the woman and her children.

Throughout the course of the argument, O'Neal admitted to drawing her gun but said that she didn't point it at anyone, the affidavit states.

At one point, Mathews allegedly headbutted the children's mother, Shamira Cotton, and pointed his gun at her while yelling profanities, she told police. Cotton admitted to throwing her drink at Mathews during the encounter.

Cotton's boyfriend, Jaharie Wheeler, came out of his apartment to find his girlfriend bleeding, according to the affidavit.

The two men began arguing and the affidavit said that Wheeler threw a punch at the DOC officer before Mathews drew his gun on the man and shot him in the chest, killing him.

Mathews was taken into custody the following day.

Man shot to death in dispute with armed couple angry about fireworks on July Fourth

AURORA, Colo. — An Independence Day dispute over fireworks led to a fatal shooting in Aurora, Colorado on Thursday. According to the arrest affidavit, a man and woman who work for the Departm…

fox2now.com

 

[Brillig]

If the fireworks upset your precious dog, get him a Valium prescription for the holiday. A much better solution than killing people.

 

[Exodus]

2 idiots that certainly should not be carrying concealed as they have no clue how to responsibly handle a firearm or if what said is true in the story they had absolutely no reason whatsoever to draw the weapons. Fireworks do in fact suck for dogs, we stay inside with ours, but we don't go out arguing with the neighbors as its the fucking 4th of July, It's expected!

 

[knockout]

2 idiots that certainly should not be carrying concealed as they have no clue how to responsibly handle a firearm or if what said is true in the story they had absolutely no reason whatsoever to draw the weapons. Fireworks do in fact suck for dogs, we stay inside with ours, but we don't go out arguing with the neighbors as its the fucking 4th of July, It's expected!

Firearms not concealed, some states are open carry
No permit necessary

 

[Alf]

Fireworks do in fact suck for dogs

They suck for people with PTSD too. Know what I do? I jump every time something goes off and joke about hiding under the bed with my cat.

we don't go out arguing with the neighbors as its the fucking 4th of July, It's expected!

Bingo.

--Al

 

[Spider]

The corrections officers look like shitty people. Unless there is a local ban or they're doing after the allotted times there ain't shit you can really do about people shooting fireworks in town.

In Kansas in most of the rural areas outside of town you can shoot them year round. Hell where I grew up we were just outside of town until we were annexed by the local city my parents would let me shoot fireworks from July 1st until July 5th. Nothing after the 5th because the old men in the neighborhood hated fireworks.

 

[Keepalowprofile]

If the fireworks upset your precious dog, get him a Valium prescription for the holiday. A much better solution than killing people.

They live in Colorado where cannabis is legal. All they had to do was go to a dispensary and get an edible gummy bear or something like it and feed it to the dog just before dusk.

My dog gets one 4th of July and New year's Eve. And anytime my fucktard neighbor starts shooting his gun.

One thing I have figured out. If I wait until my dog is already scared, giving him the gummy makes it worse.
So we jump in the car and go to Carl's Jr to get an order of fries. He forgets all about the scary sounds on the ride and the fries seal the deal. I give him the gummy and wait 30 minutes before we go home.


On topic
Both of these assholes should go to prison.
Also, I loathe this part:

. the DOC officer before Mathews drew his gun on the man and shot him in the chest, killing him

How dare they refer to him as The DOC officer. He wasn't on duty. He was just an average thug when he decided to go outside armed and head butted the mother of those kids.
Edit
He became a murderer when he shot and killed this guy.

 

[Babs]

They were both DOC bullies, used to dictating to and intimidating others. Their egos are in their guns. These sick bastards need to be locked up in GP/gen. pop.

 

[Old Man Metal]

Firearms not concealed, some states are open carry
No permit necessary

Excellent point.

These two have no business with firearms, or positions of authority, regardless.

There are so many possible ways that they could have handled this situation that wouldn't have ended with someone getting killed.

I don't take issue with someone taking a life in self-defense, and I'll even give you the fudge factor that split-second decision-making deserves. If you got yourself into the situation through your own stupidity, maybe I'll grumble a bit, but if someone presents a credible, imminent threat to your life, and they come out on the losing end, I'm not gonna blame you. And I'll acquit if they're dumb enough to put me on the jury (50/50 on that).

But these two fucks... they escalated the situation to that point. On purpose? Maybe not. Hopefully that's "probably not." But they did, nonetheless.

You escalate a situation, and someone throws a punch, and you jump to lethal force? Nope nope nope.

Fuck these two.

 

[Sejanus]

Worst social experiment ever!

 

[McDanel]

The mere fact that they felt the need to arm themselves to go talk to their neighbors suggests aggression and intimidation are their basic approach to problem solving.

 

[Satanica]

Yes, they were power tripping. They sure showed them! Can't wait for these entitled twats to go to prison. They'll have a great time, I'm sure.

 

[Keepalowprofile]

An Aurora man on Thursday was found guilty of murder after he shot dead his apartment complex neighbor in 2019 after a dispute over shooting off fireworks.

Scott Alan Mathews Jr., 29, was found guilty in an Arapahoe County district court of second-degree murder in the July 4, 2019, shooting death of Jaharie Wheeler, then 38. [°°°] sentencing will be in April 2022

Aurora man convicted of murder in 2019 shooting death of neighbor over July 4 fireworks dispute - Sentinel Colorado

“After what started as an argument over fireworks, (Wheeler) was killed in front of his fiancé and children for standing up to defend them,”, said Assistant District Attorney Tom Byrnes, who prosecuted Mathews in the case.

sentinelcolorado.com

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A former corrections officer convicted in the deadly July 4, 2019, shooting of his neighbor in Aurora over a dispute about children setting off fireworks was sentenced to 37 years in prison Wednesday.

An Arapahoe County jury in December found Scott Mathews guilty of second-degree murder, felony menacing and assault in the death of Jaharie Wheeler at their Aurora apartment complex.

Man who killed neighbor over fireworks dispute sentenced to 37 years

Former corrections officer Scott Mathews was convicted in the July 4, 2019, murder of Jaharie Wheeler in Aurora during an argument about children shooting fireworks.

www.9news.com

 

[Crazy Cat Lady]

Excellent!