(WVUE/FOX 8) Jefferson Parish Sheriff's investigators believe a longtime feud between neighbors played a role in the shooting death of the owner of Big Lee's Towing in Metairie.
JP Sheriff Joe Lopinto says the two men were at odds for a decade.
"They fight nonstop over anything and everything," said Sheriff Lopinto.
Sheriff Lopinto says it came to a head, Saturday morning, leaving 53-year-old Lee Martin dead on the side of his home.
Lopinto says it happened just before 11 a.m., as 78-year-old Wayne Higgins was pulling out of his driveway while Martin watered his plant.
"He took the hose and actually sprayed it at the vehicle, which prompted the resident to stop. He stopped and rolled down his window and we assume, we don't have the audio on that, that they had words because he sprayed the hose. Mr. Martin then took the hose and sprayed it inside the vehicle at the subject," explained Lopinto.
That's when Lopinto says surveillance video from a neighbor captured Higgins getting out of his truck and firing one shot at Martin, striking him in the side.
Martin died on scene.
"He was a good man. He was troubled in some ways, like we all got troubles, hardships, you know," said relative Dominic Carter. "Sometimes his mouth got him in trouble and I understand that."
In November 2017, Martin was in the news for allegedly hitting a woman with his tow truck, on purpose.
Martin denied hitting the 44-year-old, but after police reviewed this video, he was arrested and charged with aggravated battery.
Higgins faces second degree murder charges.