A 43-year-old father was fatally shot over his perceived political affiliation, his Ohio family said.
The man’s 26-year-old neighbor is now facing a charge of murder, court documents show.
Anthony Lee King’s wife had just finished mowing their yard in Okeana on Saturday, Nov. 5, when she heard gunshots, she said in a call to 911, WCPO reported.
The family rushed to the backyard and found King, 43, unresponsive in the yard, the Journal-News reported.
“My neighbor just shot my dad,” King’s son told 911 dispatchers, the Journal-News reported.
“I looked at the backyard, and that man was walking away from my husband,” King’s wife said, per WCPO.
“He’s come over like four times confronting my husband because he thought he was a Democrat,” she said to 911, per WLWT.
King died of multiple gunshot wounds, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office said in a criminal complaint filed Monday, Nov. 7. He died before deputies arrived, the office said in an earlier news release.
The victim’s neighbor, Austin Combs, 26, was arrested a few hours after the shooting, the sheriff said in a news release. He is facing a murder charge with the possibility of additional charges later.
Combs admitted to shooting King several times with a revolver, the sheriff said.
He was booked into Butler County Jail on Saturday evening and, on Monday, his bond was set at $950,000, WCPO reported. Combs has a preliminary hearing set for Friday, Nov. 10, according to court records.
Okeana is about 25 miles northwest of Cincinnati.
This story was originally published November 09, 2022 10:19 AM.
