PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Days after one neighbor is accused of killing another neighbor, the circumstances that led to the shooting are beginning to emerge.
Jon Landis stands accused of killing Dean Kuntz early Saturday night in the 2600 block of SE 151st in Portland.
The 48-year-old suspect has a nursing license in the state of Oregon and no criminal record. A check by KOIN 6 News found he’s only been cited for 3 speeding tickets.
Landis made his first court appearance and is being held without bail in the Multnomah County Jail. He waved to his wife and looked directly at the victim’s son, Tabor Kuntz, when Tabor addressed the court.
“May God have mercy on your soul,” Tabor Kuntz said to Landis.
The next scheduled court appearance for Landis is July 8.What led to the shooting
Tabor Kuntz, who saw his father get shot, said his dad and the alleged shooter had a dispute. His father had been angry about people driving too fast through the neighborhood.
“My father has been here for 35 years, you know, just protecting his property, you know, and the kids that run around here,” Tabor Kuntz said.
He said there are more than a dozen kids that live on the street, and speeding is “something we just don’t tolerate.”
Kuntz said his father went to Landis’ home and spoke with his wife about the speeding cars.
“Then they had a confrontation,” he said.
Landis allegedly came over to their house the next day and asked “if the guy who owned the truck was home. My sister said yeah and got my father.”
The elder Kuntz went to the door and and an argument between the 2 men began. He said once his dad saw the man had a gun he ordered him off the property.
“If you have a gun, get off my property or you better be prepared to use it,” Tabor Kuntz said his dad told the man.
“The guy took a couple of steps back in the street and pulled the gun out,” he said. “Tragically, he ended my father’s life.”
The shooter, Kuntz said, “just stood in the road with a gun in one hand and phone in the other, and I guess he was on the phone to the police.”
Other witnesses said Landis called police.
Some neighbors told KOIN 6 News off-camera they heard Kuntz threaten Landis’ wife and family.
Tabor Kuntz said his father had never threatened Landis or his family. “Not that I know of, not to my recollection. This was the first altercation they had.”
He wants justice, but more than that, he said, “is for this to never have happened.”Editor’s Note: In an earlier online version of this story, we inadvertently misidentified another member of the Kuntz family as Dean Kuntz. KOIN.com regrets the error.