Neighbors engaged in a snow shoveling dispute from this week’s significant winter storm in northeastern Pennsylvania are all now dead. In the northeastern Pennsylvania community of Plains, roughly 15 miles southwest of Scranton, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said a husband and wife were shot to death in the street outside their home just before 9am Monday.
The suspect who shot them was found dead in his home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Luzerne county coroner pronounced all three dead just before 11:30 a.m. Monday.
According to a joint statement released by Salavantis and Dale Binker, who serves as Police Chief for Plains Township, 50 year old James Goy and 48 year old Lisa Goy were shot to death by their neighbor, 47 year-old James Spaide.
“The Goys were shoveing the snow from their parking spots, shoveling the snow across the road, and throwing the snow onto Spaide’s property,” the joint statement said. Witnesses told investigators that Spaide asked the couple to stop, escalating the incident to a shouting match. Witnesses said Goy then took a tool he was using to remove snow from his car and threw it at Spaide. When Goy approached Spaide, Spaide retreated into his house, grabbed a gun, and returned to shoot them. The incident, captured on a resident’s security camera, shows Spaide firing multiple times into the Goys. Spaide returned to his house after killing them, where according to officials, he used another firearm to commit suicide as the police arrived and approached his home.
In the security video, Spaide can be heard muttering that the Goys are “scummy” before he appears in the frame, sparking an immediate reaction from the pair.
“This is bull s—,” Lisa shouts.
“You can go f— yourself,” her husband adds.
When Spaide returned with the gun, Lisa shouted, “Go ahead,” she urges her armed neighbor. “Go ahead.” After some more shouting, Spaide opened fire.
The Goy’s 15 year old autistic child remained in the house during his parent’s murder. He is now in the custody of his grandparents.
With the entire incident captured on video and the gunman dead, officials have declared the case “closed.”
This is not the first time neighbors have erupted into an argument over snow removal. In a video posted by Weatherboy in 2015 that has since gone viral, two neighbors are involved in a profanity-laced tirade. Fortunately, it didn’t end in gunfire as the situation in Plains did.
