Landscaper threatened with gun after clippings soil car

Max HortonMax Horton

A 91-year-old man became extremely irate when a landscaper got grass clippings on his car and proceeded to threaten the man with a gun.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, landscaper Robert Hendrix and his employee Johnny Barnes were working at a home in Avon Park, Florida, when the clippings blew onto a car parked in Max Horton’s driveway, according to WFLA.com.

Horton began to argue with Hendrix and then pulled a gun on him. According to the Highlands Country Sheriff’s Office, Horton made the man get on his knees and was saying he was going to kill him.

Barnes intervened by distracting Horton and grabbed for the gun. In the struggle, one round went off and barely missed Hendrix’s head.

The two landscapers then tackled the 91-year-old man and restrained him until police arrived.

Horton had minor injuries and was taken to Highlands Regional Medical Center. Authorities had to bypass a closer hospital because Horton previously had made verbal threats toward staff members at Florida Hospital. That incident occurred in 2013.

Neighbors say the senior citizen is known for his bad temper, but none expected him to do something like this.

After being released from the hospital, Horton was charged with attempted first-degree murder. He is being held without bond.

Horton isn’t the only man to get mad about grass clippings. In August of last year, a landscaper was stabbed after his mower got grass clippings on a man’s truck. The 71-year-old assailant in that case was sentenced to two years in prison. The landscaper involved, who was 19 at the time, survived the attack.

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