Painful news from Louisville, Kentucky, after an angry homeowner opened fire in his HOA board meeting Thursday night. One man was killed and another critically injured.
The suspect, 55 year old Mahmoud Hindi had repeated conflicts with the board over a driveway and a fence that had not been approved by the board. It’s not the first time people have been killed during an HOA meeting. Sadly, it probably won’t be the last. The escalating level of conflict in America’s HOA system can only point to more violence.
Hindi is in jail facing charges of first-degree murder and seven counts of assault and wanton endangerment.
In Arizona in 2000, Richard Glassel lost his home following a dispute with his HOA over landscaping. The CAI attorney asked for $10,000 in fees for an injunction request, which led to the loss of the home. The actual award was only $1,000. The Glassels were looking to sell,but were foreclosed on by the mortgage company. He returned and killed 2 board members.
The court found him competent to stand trial although his attorney and a psychologist testified that he was not capable of communicating with his attorney, a requirement to avoid incompetency. Another psychologist changed his mind from incompetent to competent. Glassel is on death row.
None of the preceding events of the landscaping issue were entered into the case as factors to avoid the death penalty. A widower pleaded with the court not to give the death penalty. He had headed the landscaping committee that brought the initial legal action.
George, I do remember that case. In fact, I write about it in my new book. BTW, here’s an unrelated but interesting challenge for folks. Google the words “HOA and embezzle”, or “homeowner association and embezzle.” Entertain yourself with the number of hits. And then ask yourself, “why are HOA members so angry these days?” It’s just one of the many things that drive homeowners insane.
Here’s another cause for homeowner anger. This one comes from reader submissions in a W.Va. newspaper:
…wanton endangerment.
P.S. I haven’t seen where dumplings have been added to endangered lists. Is this new?
That was hilarious. I’ll have to figure out a new spell-check program which understands the difference between wanton and wonton. Actually, I once got food poisoning in a Chinese Restaurant. It could have been the wontons.
“she received an official notice from her HOA informing her that she was forbidden from being seen outdoors”
According to the CAI at http://www.caionline.org/about/press/Pages/Headlines.aspx/about/press/Pages/Headlines.aspx the story is a hoax. No permalink, scroll down to “The Woman that Wasn’t in the HOA that Didn’t. July 2012:
Until I see some specifics about the story, ie name of homeowner, name of HOA, etc., I’m going to have to do the unthinkable and agree with the CAI that this is a hoax.
Of course, it could be a story planted by a CAI agent provocateur, to make their critics look foolish.
Wow. I may have to join in doing the unthinkable with you, which is doubly unthinkable. I actually got the story from CAN-Community Associations Network here and then Googled one line and verified it came from a news source, but that’s all the checking I did on it.
Still, that the story fooled CAN shows how even the most egregious HOA horror tales are usually right on target.
Thanks for the info, anonymous.