Family therapist explains how a feud between neighbors could turn fatal
Disturbing new details shed light on a reality in many neighborhoods: neighbors don’t always get along and disagreements can happen.
But what causes them to escalate into violence? In Wednesday’s shooting on Rimwood Drive near UCCS, we learned it was possibly over a citation for an “aggressive dog.”
Arguments between neighbors are nothing new. You may remember a dispute over street parking ended in the death of an assistant principal and former professional football player from Aurora.
Lt. Howard Black with CSPD says Colorado Springs is no different.
“We have neighborhood disputes like every city in the country. We have people that have disagreements. It is extremely rare that we see neighbor disputes reach this level of violence,” he said.
On social media, James Hanlon appears to be a doting husband and father. And as far as his criminal record goes, we couldn’t find a single citation in our searches.
So what could have driven him to execute his neighbor in the blink of an eye? That’s what we asked family therapist Robert Crouse.
“This is definitely an accumulation of events and it may not be his neighbor or his dog that was the trigger. It may have been something at work and this was just escalating,” he said.
Neighbor Barbara Neilon says what happened Wednesday is completely out of the ordinary. A cross with flowers now marks the spot where she says she saw Gary Dolce’s body.
“I went to my kitchen window and I saw the victim and men trying to do CPR,” she said.
The once-quiet neighborhood is now marred by eight black letters spraypainted on a garage door that read, “murderer.” The thought that “it can’t happen here,” no longer applies.
