AZUSA, Calif. — Neighbors of the 81-year-old guy accused of being a “serial slingshot shooter” who terrorized his community for a decade via allegedly firing ball bearings thru home windows and windshields expressed surprise at his arrest, an afternoon earlier than his surprising dying on Wednesday.
Prince King, who lived in Azusa, California, died of center illness at a personal place of abode, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said on its website Thursday.
King’s neighbors in Azusa, a small town some 26 miles east of Los Angeles on the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, have been stunned that the outdated guy they knew as “Wick” were arrested.
“He’s always nice,” Veronica Jonasson, who lived subsequent door to King, stated in an interview with NBC News.
Jonasson stated she works from house and King would incessantly claim “break time!” and are available over to speak. She stated he would convey treats for her canine they usually by no means had any issues.
“I’m honestly surprised,” Jonasson stated. “I never thought he’d be terrorizing the neighborhood like that.”
Jonasson stated she and her sister-in-law known as King “Gran Torino” as a result of, like the nature performed via Clint Eastwood within the the 2008 film, he had white hair, changed into a widower a few years in the past, and lived by myself.
King was once arrested on May 23, capping a long-running quality-of-life investigation via the Azusa police right into a spate of vandalism on North Enid Avenue. Nobody was once harm, however police have been stymied for years.
“It’s been ongoing for many years because we just didn’t identify who the suspect was,” Azusa police Lt. Jake Bushey stated after King was once arrested, in keeping with The Orange County Register.
A seek of King’s two-bedroom home ended in the invention of a slingshot and ball bearings, which ended in King’s arrest.
King was once charged with seven instances of vandalism, 5 of them criminal vandalism, and two misdemeanors, in keeping with court docket data. He was once launched, data display, from the Los Angeles County Jail with out bail Tuesday and given a June 17 go back court docket date.
Bushey stated King didn’t pick out his objectives at random. But they nonetheless have no idea why he allegedly centered his neighbors.
“We’re not aware of any kind of motive other than just malicious mischief,” Bushey stated.
In 2017, court docket data display that King was once taken to court docket via a girl to settle a assets dispute following the dying of King’s father. The lady and King have been named as joint tenants, and an settlement was once reached the place King paid the girl for her passion, data display. Neither the girl nor her attorney returned calls to NBC News for remark.
Jonasson stated she didn’t recall ever seeing King with a slingshot, however she did see him as soon as with a BB gun on his porch.
“I asked him one time, ‘What are you shooting at?’ He told me it was coyotes,” she stated.
It’s now not a far-fetched rationalization. Coyotes aren’t unusual in Azusa, inhabitants about 50,000, which calls itself “The Canyon City” as a result of its location on the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.
But after King’s arrest, his neighbors were poring over the Azusa Police Department’s Instagram and Facebook posts and questioning if he was once accountable to destructive their windshields and home windows.
“Most of us did not believe it was him — even as they were arresting him,” stated Chris, a neighbor who declined to present his final title.
“Even now it’s still settling in,” he said. “We’re still like, ‘No, maybe it was something else.’ Most of us are neighborly.”
Still, Chris stated he’s had home windows shot out and every now and then heard what gave the impression of issues being struck after he were given house from paintings. He recalled seeing a digital camera on King’s storage that seemed to be pointing without delay at his house.
Other neighbors stated they incessantly discovered BB’s at the flooring and of their driveways.
“Many times I came outside, and I would find little BBs on the ground by my front door, so I’m very glad the person was caught,” resident Monica Palomino told NBC Los Angeles after the arrest was once introduced.
Attempts to succeed in King’s members of the family who may just discuss on his behalf weren’t a success.
King were ordered via the court docket to stick 200 yards clear of a number of places in Azusa, together with the 900 block of North Enid Avenue the place he lived, in keeping with court docket data.
King were charged with breaking home windows at six homes, in addition to a automotive windshield and storage window, in keeping with a felony grievance.
He pleaded now not accountable and denied all allegations at a court docket look Tuesday, data display. His public defender didn’t straight away reply to a request for remark Thursday.
Blue tape that bore the title of the Los Angeles County clinical examiner’s workplace sealed the doorways of his house Wednesday.
Before he died, any person had positioned an indication in his backyard that stated, “Stay Away Wick!”
Chris stated he cannot fathom why King would goal his neighbors.
“That’s the thing,” he stated. “There wasn’t a clear distinct moment or vibe like he had it in for us.”
Phil Helsel reported from Azusa, California and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.
