Fatal Fight Between Neighbors on Tape: 'C'mon, Shoot Me!'

Kara Box has cellphone video of confrontation between her late husband, 2 neighbors
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 21, 2018 11:33 AM CDT
Fatal Fight Between Neighbors Began Over an Old Mattress
John Miller, left, and Michael Miller.   (Abilene Police Department)

Cops say a 37-year-old Texas man was shot dead by two neighbors earlier this month after an argument over a mattress, and now Aaron Howard's common-law wife has video of the confrontation. "People deserve to know what actually happened," Kara Box tells KTXS. See that site or the Star-Telegram to view Box's graphic, nearly three-minute video of the expletive-filled showdown between Howard and his neighbors, which Box says started after she and Howard threw an old mattress into a dumpster in the alley behind their Abilene home. Neighbors John Miller, 67, and his son Michael Miller, 31, apparently didn't like that, and the mattress suddenly reappeared back in the Howards' yard. Howard dragged it back to the dumpster, and that's when both Millers emerged into the alley, shirtless, and Box started taping the dispute.

As the three men exchange curses and death threats, the elder Miller grasps a handgun, while Michael Miller holds onto a shotgun; Howard is unarmed, until he's handed a baseball bat by his brother, Box says. The argument escalates, Box steps between her husband and John Miller, and then Howard says: "C'mon, shoot me!" Two shots are heard, and then Michael Miller is seen on the video firing more shots. Box screams as she rushes over to Howard, now on the ground (blurred out in the video), "For a second I thought he was going to be OK, but he didn't make it," she tells the Star-Telegram. The Millers have been charged with murder but are currently free after posting $25,000 bail. "This is something that I consider a private matter between me and the state of Texas," John Miller tells the Washington Post. Box has moved to a different part of Abilene. (More Texas stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X