"The shooting was the culmination of a long-running dispute that Getchell and his girlfriend had with McFarlane, police records show and McFarlane's friends confirm. McFarlane reported repeated harassment from his neighbors to cops before the day of the shooting. Feces were smeared on his house walls, and signs with gay and transgender slurs were posted in windows in Getchell's house facing McFarlane's. One read "F*ck you tr*nny f*g" in large block letters, First Coast News reports."
"Interviews with witnesses - including Getchell's girlfriend, who has not been charged with a crime - indicate Getchell and the woman confronted McFarlane when he was collecting the debris intended for his bonfire, claiming he was on their property. Based on video of the incident, police confirmed that McFarlane was on a property easement and within his rights to pick up the trash."
On November 22 in Jacksonville, a man collecting discarded furniture for a bonfire was shot in the back and nearly killed. The victim, Kyle McFarlane, suffered a bullet lodged next to his lower spine that paralyzed him, leaving him unable to walk and affecting bowel and bladder function. Doctors say intensive physical therapy over time may restore some motor function, but the bullet's location on a vertebra makes it inoperable. The shooter, next-door neighbor Tyler Getchell, was taken into custody. McFarlane had reported repeated harassment, including feces smeared on his house and slur-filled signs posted in Getchell's windows. Video showed McFarlane was on a property easement and within his rights when confronted.
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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