A West Virginia man is in police custody after shooting and killing his new neighbor and the man’s brother without warning as the two inspected their land.

Rodney Bruce Black, 62, who is white, told police that he thought the two black men were breaking into a building he thought he owned. 

From New York Daily News:

The Cabell County Sheriff’s Department charged Rodney Bruce Black, 62, of Barboursville, with two counts of first degree murder after he killed Garrick Hopkins, 60, of Milton and his brother, Carl Hopkins Jr., 61, of Oak Hill, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sherriff Tom McComas told the Daily News on Monday.

Garrick Hopkins and his wife had just purchased land next door to Black and planned to start building a home in the next few weeks, McComas said. The landowner had invited his brother over to check out the property Saturday afternoon.

Read more at New York Daily News

Black saw the two men looking inside a shed. Then, without warning, he allegedly fired once at both of them. They died at the scene.

The structure contained nothing of value, and did not even belong to Black. The sheriff said they were continuing to investigate the incident in hopes of finding out why Black would shoot two unarmed men.

Police say there was no indication that race was a factor in the incident.

Wow.


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