A routine repair job on a Rossville street turned into a fatal confrontation Friday night, leaving neighbors shaken and a longtime maintenance worker dead after what witnesses describe as an argument over a bright work light.
Deputies say 59-year-old maintenance worker Jerry Hightower was found shot in the front yard of a home, and 49-year-old James Richard Nowlin has been arrested in connection with the killing. Nowlin is charged with murder and is being held without bond at the Walker County Jail, according to authorities. The case remains under active investigation.
How deputies say it unfolded
Walker County deputies told reporters they were dispatched to Ridgewood Street just after 9 p.m. Friday. When they arrived, they found Hightower, of Trion, Georgia, lying in the front yard of a residence with what they reported as a fatal gunshot wound.
Witnesses directed deputies across the street, where they said the suspected shooter was sitting on a porch. According to WTVC, Sheriff Steve Wilson told reporters that the man was taken into custody without incident as deputies secured the area.
Neighbors describe a petty dispute
What sparked the violence, neighbors say, was something that would usually rate as a minor annoyance: a bright work light…