XPost: rec.arts.movies.current-films, can.politics, alt.politics.liberalism   
   XPost: alt.guns   
   From: rlopez@signonsandiego.com   
      
   In the tale of two neighbors from the wealthy community of   
   Encinitas in San Diego, Calif., with a tumultuous relationship   
   that ended with one's death, their friends and loved ones   
   continue struggling to make sense of the tragedy.   
      
   John Upton, 56, was a well-known do-gooder and filmmaker who   
   devoted his life to helping children and the elderly.   
      
   "I really knew from a very, very young age that you really can   
   make a difference because I saw my dad do it," Elizabeth Upton,   
   John Upton's daughter, told ABC News' "20/20."   
      
   The other neighbor, Michael Vilkin, 61, was an intellectual   
   inventor who emigrated from the former Soviet state of Georgia   
   for the American dream.   
      
   "You come home tired and exhausted from work," Vilkin's wife,   
   Tamara Vilkin, told "20/20," "And there's a man, who ... could   
   really lift your mood."   
      
   On March 28, 2013, San Diego County sheriff's deputies responded   
   to Vilkin's 911 phone call saying he killed his neighbor. Upon   
   arriving to Vilkin's property, they found Upton lying on the   
   ground, and he was later declared dead at the scene.   
      
   Vilkin was charged with premeditated murder and assault with a   
   deadly weapon. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted,   
   although he's confident that won't be the case.   
      
   "That cannot happen, because I did not assault him. He assaulted   
   me," Vilkin said in a jailhouse interview with ABC News   
   affiliate KGTV. "So how come that I will be found guilty? That   
   is not possible."   
      
   According to other neighbors and Vilkin's wife, a narrow strip   
   of land in front of Upton's front door on Vilkin's property,   
   which Vilkin bought for his wife Tamara as a gift, was a point   
   of contention between Upton and Vilkin.   
      
   "That guy John was obsessed about privacy, and he did not want   
   me to cut the bushes or trees there for more than a year,"   
   Vilkin said.   
      
   Tamara Vilkin explained her husband's work on their land.   
      
   "In order to do this survey, he needed to cut some bushes," she   
   said, "so he called the police to make sure that everything will   
   go smoothly."   
      
   Upton's girlfriend, Evelyn Zeller, told "20/20" that Upton never   
   complained about his neighbor.   
      
   "He used to say many times, 'Wow, I admire his work ethic,'" she   
   said.   
      
   Zeller said she and Upton were peaceful, and loved Buddhas,   
   serenity and inspiration.   
      
   Upton not only inspired his children and girlfriend, but also   
   many others through his personal mission of rescuing Romanian   
   orphans. ABC News' "20/20" even featured Upton's mission in an   
   episode during the 1990s.   
      
   However, other neighbors told "20/20" off camera that Upton   
   would taunt Vilkin from his balcony regularly to the point that   
   it changed Vilkin.   
      
   "He just said that: He wanted to have a gun," Tamara Vilkin   
   recalled of Vilkin's decision to buy a .44 magnum before Vilkin   
   and Upton's final confrontation.   
      
   In Zeller's version of events, Upton went over to Vilkin's   
   property to declare a truce. She said the couple was preparing   
   to move away the very next day.   
      
   "We had found our dream home," Zeller said. "'We're outta here,'   
   that's what he went out to say."   
      
   Outside, Vilkin admitted he was hiding behind a bush with a gun   
   lodged in his waistband. As Upton approached, he met his fate.   
      
   "I called for John," Zeller said. "I did not get a response ...   
   so I look up the path and I see John lying on the path."   
      
   Zeller said she heard Vilkin say, "Don't get any [expletive]   
   closer," and alleged that he then pointed the gun at her.   
      
   Vilkin said Upton threatened him first, with a gun.   
      
   "He walked to me, accusing, f-word, f-word, f-word, and pulled   
   the gun," Vilkin told KGTV from jail. "I pulled out my gun, and   
   I was ready for it, and I shot him. It was self-defense."   
      
   According to investigators, Upton may have pulled out a cell   
   phone, but there was no other gun found at the scene.   
      
   Next year, it will be a jury's job to decide whether Vilkin is   
   an obsessed landowner who snapped and deliberately killed his   
   own neighbor or if he was a terrorized intellectual, driven to   
   defend himself against repeated verbal threats.   
      
   Meanwhile, Upton and Vilkin's families are both still feeling   
   the effects of what transpired between the two neighbors.   
      
   "Who is this guy," Upton's daughter, Elizabeth Upton, asked,   
   "this man who murdered my father in cold blood? For what?"   
      
   Upton's wide-reaching charity work inspired his children to   
   follow in their father's footsteps. Both Johnny and Elizabeth   
   Upton have traveled extensively to help orphans abroad.   
      
   Elizabeth Upton makes documentaries for a non-profit group her   
   father started called Media4aCause, which provides short   
   documentaries and brand training to worthy causes and charities   
   for free, and Johnny Upton works in Uganda. Both said their work   
   is a way to feel closer to their father.   
      
   Tamara Vilkin wishes he never bought the land for her "because   
   it brought nothing but pain to us."   
      
   http://abcnews.go.com/US/family-friends-search-answers-   
   neighborly-dispute-ended-death/story?id=20306848&singlePage=true   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)