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Costa Rica gunman shoots neighbor dead in dispute over water sprinkler use

SAN JOSE — Terrifying video captured the moment an enraged man pulled out a gun and shot his neighbor dead during a dispute outside their homes in Costa Rica earlier this week.

The minute-long clip showed a woman walking out of her garage past a pickup truck as a couple next door yelled at her from their doorway at the Rio Palma condominium in the city of Escazu, Costa Rica.

The first woman stops walking and shouts back, which led her husband, later identified as Eduardo Ramírez Zamora, to step into the frame.

Zamora, 53, initially tried to hold his wife back before seemingly changing his mind, whipping out a gun from his waistband, and loading it before concealing it under his clothing again.

The Zamoras’ neighbors, Otoniel Orozco Mendoza and his wife, made their way out of their home and to the grassy driveways, where they confronted the Zamoras, shouting and pointing fingers.

The two couples had been arguing about a shared water valve around 7 a.m. Monday, TMZ reported, citing the Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion.

As the two men stood face to face, Mendoza, 53, squared off before throwing a punch at Zamora and hitting his adversary in the head as the two began to exchange blows.

After several punches were thrown, Zamora backed up, produced the gun from under his shirt and fired at Mendoza, hitting him several times.

The two neighbors had been arguing about a shared water valve around 7 a.m. Monday.

“We heard a loud argument outside; as we looked out, we could see where the neighbor was shooting the other neighbor, who unfortunately passed away,” a witne ss told Costa Rica English newspaper the Tico Times.

Zamora shot nine more rounds into Mendoza, who was knocked backward as the gunman’s wife pulled him away while the defenseless man’s partner screamed.

“Once he was lying on the ground, the other neighbor continued to shoot him without fear,” the witness added.

Tensions between the neighbors had been nearing the boiling point for a while as Zamora reportedly had “things against Mendoza for years.”

“He bothered him every time he (Otto) went out, bothered his children and wife, he made derogatory comments regarding Mr. Otto’s nationality,” the unidentified witness said.

Mendoza had moved to Costa Rica from his native Nicaragua.

“He even questioned how it was possible that a Nicaraguan could live in a place like this,” the witness added.

Mendoza was pronounced dead at the scene despite other neighbors trying to save him.

Mendoza suffered gunshot wounds to the thorax and legs, the Tico Times reported, citing the Judicial Investigation Department (OIJ).

One of Mendoza’s relatives blasted local law enforcement for not doing anything to stop the feuding neighbors’ continuing disagreements.

“They always had problems. It had been going on for a long time. They even sued him, and nobody did anything. Neither the police force nor the OIJ acted,” the mourning relative said to the newspaper. “I don’t know what happened, only that they argued. I do not understand that. How is that possible?”

Local authorities arrested Zamora after the incident.

He will be held for three months in preventive detention, according to the Daily Mail.

Other neighbors claim they were unaware Zamora owned the firearm and had previously told both parties to get along for “the sake of the neighborhood.”

In January, a Las Vegas pastor was killed by a crazed neighbor in his own driveway after reporting her to the homeowners association.

Nick Davi was fatally shot in the abdomen by Joe Junio as his children watched in horror from the family’s car.

After firing at the father of two, Junio turned a gun on Davi’s wife, Sarah.

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