FT. MEYERS, Fla. – It’s a scenario you usually only hear about in fiction crime shows.
“They don’t teach you this in law school. It’s a strange situation,” attorney Robert Harris said.
Police and deputies on scene are not releasing much information but Harris said a client of his, named John Marshall, drove to his office around 4:15 p.m. and was dirty, had missing teeth and appeared to have some broken fingers.
He said Marshall then told him he got into a fight with a neighbor of his in Bokeelia and fatally shot him.
Marshall then told him that the body was in the back of the pickup truck he drove to the office.
“Once I learned of the facts, I called 911,” Harris said.
Police and deputies then swarmed the building, located on Virginia Avenue. A blue pickup truck was surrounded with crime scene tape.
Marshall was questioned at the law firm for several hours.
Harris said Marshall was not being arrested and instead was taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Marshall has since been discharged from Lee Memorial Hospital.
The altercation
Harris said Marshall had recently come to him saying the neighbor had threatened him over building on a property in Bokeelia.
Harris recommended a restraining order but Wednesday Marshall told him it got physical.
“This man went up to him and said he wanted to apologize for his behavior and then pulled the gun,” Harris said.
The attorney said Marshall told him the neighbor pistol-whipped him. The two then wrestled to the ground and then the neighbor got shot.
“He’s distraught. He’s a man who fought for his life tonight, but it doesn’t change the fact that someone is dead,” Harris said.
Harris says Marshall, who he has been representing for an aggravated battery case, has been cooperating with police.
“I’ll be representing him on whatever charges he faces,” he said. “I tell you this, this is as clear cut a self-defense case as I’ve seen.”
But that’s something that can only be determined in court after investigators gather all the facts.
Neighbors
Neighbors said Marshall recently bought an empty lot on Hodges Drive.
The house just across the street from the lot is where neighbors said the man who was shot lived for many years.
Neighbors said the two could not get along.
Just a few days ago, one of the neighbors said Marshall told him he was threatened by the other man.
Marshall’s attorney said this is a self-defense case but some neighbors said they have a tough time believing that.
“I’m just absolutely devastated,” neighbor Jill Hammer said. “The integrity and the love this man shows to all his neighbors and his family and he’s gone. He would never have started a confrontation. He would have turned and walked away.”
By: Brittany Weiner for CNN
