POLICE IN Northern California are investigating the shooting dead of a 47-year old Irish man on Sunday.
The incident took place in Amador County, located at the Sierra Nevada foothills, around 72km from Sacramento.
John O’Sullivan, originally from Valentia island in Co Kerry, was shot dead on Sunday evening folllowing a dispute with his neighbour, according to the office of the Amador County Sheriff.
It is understood Mr O’Sullivan was involved in a long standing dispute with his neighbour Kenneth John Zimmerman.
Zimmerman reported that Mr O’Sullivan had driven a tractor through his locked gate, damaging his property at Jura lane, Fiddletown. Zimmerman reported that Mr O’Sullivan struck him in the face with his open hand, and tried to run over him with the tractor.
Zimmerman also told the emergency dispatcher that the Sheriff’s Office better hurry up and get there “before I shoot him”.
Upon checking the area, deputies subsequently located O’Sullivan, dead on his tractor, off the roadway, in the brush near Mr Zimmerman’s residence. Preliminary investigation indicates O’Sullivan was the victim of multiple gunshot wounds.
Mr Zimmerman was arrested and booked into the Amador County Jail on one count of murder and is being held without bail.
Mr O’Sullivan is a member of a long established native Valentia Island family and was the eldest of a family of eight, some of whom still reside on Valentia and in the Tralee area.
He had emigrated to the US in the early 1980s.
His family were the owners of the Royal Hotel in Knightstown until they sold it in recent years.
Before emigrating to the US in the 1980s he worked in the building trade and played Gaelic football with Valentia Island and was regarded as a fine footballer.