Man shot dead during ‘absurdly trivial’ fight over spitting, cops say. ‘Unfathomable’
A Michigan man was fatally shot after he asked an acquaintance to leave his home for “disrespectful” behavior, authorities said.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21, 33-year-old Cornelius James Jones of Pontiac, Michigan, got into an argument with an acquaintance who spit in his sink, according to a Feb. 22 news release from Oakland County Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard.
Witnesses told deputies they heard an argument between Jones and the 22-year-old suspect, saying Jones called his spitting “disrespectful,” Bouchard said.
When Jones told the acquaintance to leave his apartment, the suspect shot him multiple times, according to the sheriff.
Deputies found Jones lying on the floor of his apartment unconscious but still breathing, the sheriff said.
He was taken to a hospital where, shortly after, he was pronounced dead, officials said.
“It is unfathomable that a human life would be taken for something so absurdly trivial as a person spitting in a sink,” Bouchard said.
The accused shooter and a second suspect fled the scene but were arrested after a foot chase, the sheriff said.
Jones was a father of three, Detroit’s WXYZ reports. “He didn’t have much but whatever he did have, he gave willingly,” Jones’s sister, Moniqua Turner, told the station.
“He gave graciously,” she said.
The suspects, both from Pontiac, were placed in the Oakland County Jail, according to the sheriff.
They could face criminal charges in court as soon as Feb. 23, Bouchard said.
Pontiac is about 30 miles northwest of Detroit.
This story was originally published February 23, 2024 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Man shot dead during ‘absurdly trivial’ fight over spitting, cops say. ‘Unfathomable’."
