This story is horrible.
A 78-year-old DeLeon Springs man is in jail without bond, accused of shooting and killing his neighbor during a dispute over trees.
Edward Druzolowski is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 42-year-old Brian Ford.
911 calls released Monday reveal it was the suspect’s wife who called for help. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office also released body cam video showing Druzolowski’s arrest.
“My husband had it in his hand. He meant to scare him, and he hit him. He was on our property,” she said.
The victim’s mother tells a harrowing story. Her son was trimming tree limbs for her when he was shot and killed in front of his 8-year-old son Sunday night.
She says she and her neighbor weren’t exactly friendly but never expected something like this.
She says her son Brian had come over for the weekend to celebrate a birthday and do some yard work for her. Brian Ford and his 8-year-old son were trimming limbs at the fence line. She was in the carport in her walker when suddenly, she heard a loud noise.
“I heard a big boom, and then he started, the little one started screaming, ‘He shot my dad! He shot my dad!” Linda Ford said.
Druzolowski let his court-appointed public defender plead his case for bond, telling the judge Druzolowski has no prior criminal history. But assistant state attorney Dustin Haven argued against it.
“He admitted in the 707 that the victim was unarmed and had made no threats,” Haven said.
According to the sheriff’s office, the suspect saw the victim doing the tree work and ordered him off what he claimed was his property, though the victim’s mother told WESH 2 where her son was working was still her property.
“My fence is 2 feet inside my yard. So I go another 2 feet outside my fenced area,” she said.
When the victim didn’t leave, investigators say the suspect shot him, killing Brian. The victim’s mother says the suspect was still holding the gun when she got there and pointed it at her and her grandson.
This is murder.
This old fuck really deserves to get strapped into Old Sparkey and ride the lightning straight to hell.
There is nothing defensive about shooting an unarmed man in front of his child then yelling at his child.
There is a lesson to be learned here.
Don’t argue with assholes.
I had a neighbor who was a crazy asshole. She was in the other side of a duplex I used to live in.
Whenever I vacuumed, she’d go into a raging fit over how much noise I was making and start banging on my door. I’d call the cops. I never opened my door to confront her.
In an unfriendly neighbor pitches a fit over trimming bushes he say are in his yard, walk away.
Just walk away.
Just let him take care of it or go through legal channels to deal wity it (cops or lawyers).
You never go is that person is going to go from unfriendly to murderous over nothing.
And again, I’m not victim blaming. This man did nothing wrong. I’m trying to learn and share a lesson grom this so other people dint learn the hard way.
This account of this tragic event is one-sided and if the other accounts are true, also has a lie, namely that the old guy said the victim did not make any threats. The media wants the old guy to hang, and this account reflects that bias.
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In all the other accounts I read the eight-year-old child said that his dad threatened the old guy, saying he would cut off his head with his chainsaw if he didn’t get back in his house. Saw was in his hand when the threat was made. It was not made clear if it was a gas or electric chainsaw. A chainsaw in the hand of a person of forty-two, in shape and strong is a deadly weapon.
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Also, the old guy said that this victim often bragged about his ability to fight, and that he was not afraid to die because he spent time in prison and was tough because of it. The old guy also said that when he brought the gun into view (before or after the threat to cut off his head is not clear), the victim moved directly at him saying something to the affect that, ‘you’re pointing a gun at me, what you going to do, shoot me’ and kept moving at him.
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The old guy then, pulled the trigger on an empty revolver chamber, which he said he knew was empty because that is the way he carries the gun (He actually said he carries with two empty chambers which he believed allowed him two trigger pulls) (He obviously didn’t understand how pistols work) This did not change the victims mind, and he kept coming, so he pulled the trigger a second time, and was surprised when the gun fired. And the old guy made statements to the effect that he didn’t mean to shoot him but just intimidate him. (so this complicates a claim of self-defense)
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According to Florida law, the old guy currently is standing on solid legal ground, because of the testimony of the child and the fact that he was fearful of the victim before that day’s altercation. The old guy did perhaps, depending on how the prosecutor sees the facts in the case, is guilty of aggravated assault, maybe. But the victim threatened to kill the old guy and advanced on him, giving the appearance of carrying-out his threat.
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If there is a racial component to this case the old guy is most likely toast. If not, I believe he could survive it.
Just a note on my post – I attempted to post links to the articles about this story but now, they all omit the statement by the son, of his dad threatening to cut off the head of the old man. And they changed the wording of how the victim kept advancing and the statements of the old guy — the narrative is being manipulated politically.
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Andrew Branca did a show on this case yesterday and also produced what I originally found, regarding the actions and threats of the victim on the old guy and the statement of the child about his dad’s deadly threats.
Jonathan Turley addressed this news story on his blog – https://jonathanturley.org/2023/09/21/tree-cutting-dispute-leads-to-murder-charges-in-florida/
He does a fair to poor job addressing the legality of this event, probably because he doesn’t handle Use-of-Force Law cases very often, Nevertheless, he provides what all other news sources are leaving out.
Manipulating the story so that if he is cleared of wrong doing they can still claim that Florida’s laws are so weak that this was allowed to happen. Remember when Rittenhouse shot 3 unarmed black men
Or when Zimmerman chased down, beat up, and executed Trayvon with a double-tap to the head? While wearing his KKK robes?