Neighbor Kills Father After Daughter Touches Mulch

Tragedy in Michigan Neighborhood

A father of two young girls was alleged­ly shot dead by his neigh­bor who angri­ly con­front­ed him after his daugh­ter “touched the mulch” in the neigh­bor’s yard while the fam­i­ly was on a walk in their sub­ur­ban neighborhood.

The Deadly Confrontation

Nathan Mor­ris, 35, was on a walk with his wife and daugh­ters, ages 2 and 5, near their home in Can­ton just before noon on Sat­ur­day when their neigh­bor, Dev­er­aux Christo­pher John­son, 47, con­front­ed him and the two got into an argument.

John­son was report­ed­ly upset that Mor­ris’ daugh­ter “touched the mulch” on his property.

Deadly Escalation

“The neigh­bor took a gun out and start­ed threat­en­ing the fam­i­ly,” accord­ing to a post by the Michi­gan GOP, of which Mor­ris was a mem­ber involved in local politics. 

Mor­ris sent his fam­i­ly home, hop­ing to de-esca­late the sit­u­a­tion, but was trag­i­cal­ly shot and killed by the armed neighbor.

Aftermath and Charges

When Can­ton police offi­cers arrived, they found Mor­ris with a gun­shot wound in the street while the sus­pect had bar­ri­cad­ed him­self inside his home. 

After sev­er­al orders to sur­ren­der, John­son came out repeat­ed­ly say­ing, “Praise to God Almighty” and was tak­en into cus­tody. He was charged with first-degree mur­der and oth­er felonies.

Remembering the Victim

Mor­ris, who worked as an engi­neer at Ford, was remem­bered as “one of those few guys who are near per­fect” and “an amaz­ing and gen­tle soul” by the Michi­gan GOP.

He had recent­ly run for school board in their town, known for his “can-do spir­it and strong focus on the work and responsibilities.”