Milwaukee Man Charged With Killing Neighbor Over Grass Clippings

MILWAUKEE, WI – A 65-year-old Milwaukee man has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the fatal shooting of an off-duty Milwaukee community service officer after police said the two argued over grass clippings on Monday night, authorities announced.

Mohammed Afzal was charged in the fatal shooting of Naeem Sarosh, 35, after police said the two neighbors got into an argument over grass clippings being left on the officer's lawn. Acting Milwaukee Police Chief Michael Brunson said earlier this week that Sarosh had four years of experience working with the department and characterized him as being beloved, well respected and well liked.

"This is a senseless act and this is an untenable situation for our city, with the level of violence that we've seen recently," Brunson said this week.

A Go Fund Me campaign has been started to assist Sarosh's family. As of Thursday night, more than $28,000 of the $200,000 goal has been been raised.

According to the criminal complaint, officers arrived to the scene in the 4800 block of S. 22nd Place and found Sarosh, who had been shot. An autopsy determined that the community service officer had been shot in the back.

According to the criminal complaint, the victim and suspect were next-door neighbors whose families were on good terms prior to Monday’s incident. However, the report indicated that, for some reason, Afzal did not like Sarosh.

The shooting occurred after someone from Afzal’s family mowed the lawn and left grass clippings on the property owned by Sarosh, the criminal complaint indicated. The complaint said that Afzal engaged in a conversation about the grass clippings with Sarosh and then fired two shots at the victim, the second of which struck him in the back.

Life-saving attempts were unsuccessful and Sarosh was pronounced dead at the scene.

Video of the incident was produced from a camera on Afzal’s property and in an interview with detectives, Afzal admitted to shooting the victim. According to the criminal complaint, Afzal told detectives that Sarosh had his hands in his pockets, which made Afzal believe his neighbor had a gun. He then told police that Sarosh never produced a weapon during the argument.

He told police that he fired the gun to scare Sarosh and that after shooting his neighbor, he went inside, put the gun away and changed his clothes because he knew the police would be coming for him.

If convicted, Afzal could face up to 60 years in prison.