During the argument, a man entered his home and was given a gun, police said.
A fight that broke out over the snow shoveling would have resulted in a Pennsylvania man shooting dead two of his neighbors, authorities said.
The deadly gun violence occurred in Plains Township, about 15 miles southwest of Scranton, after two feet of snow covered the area, officials said.
Just before 9 a.m. Monday, Plains Township police officers responded to a report of gunfire in a residential area and discovered 50-year-old James Goy and his 48-year-old wife, Lisa Goy, dead in the street outside the door. of their home, according to a joint statement by Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis and Plains Township Police Chief Dale Binker.
Residents in the area sent police officers to a house across the street from the Goys’ home, but as they approached the front door, a shot rang out, officials said. Inside the house, police found 47-year-old James Spaide died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neighbors told investigators that Spaide and de Goys were embroiled in a long-running feud that reached boiling point on the snowiest day of the year.
“The Goys were shoveling the snow from their parking lots, the snow across the road and throwing the snow onto Spaide’s grounds,” Salavantis and Binker said in their statement.
Witnesses told investigators that Spaide had asked the couple to stop, which sparked a heated exchange of words. James Goy apparently threw a tool at Spaide that he had used to clear snow from his car, the statement said. As James Goy approached Spaide with a raised fist, Spaide reportedly retired to his home and pulled out a gun, officials said.
“The Goys yell at him, and using expletives called the parties out,” Salavantis and Binker said in their statement, adding that the episode was captured on surveillance video. Mr. Goy then threatened Spaide and made obscene gestures at him. Moments later Spaide returns with a pistol in his hand. ‘
Officials said that despite James and Lisa Goy seeing Spaide with a gun, names kept shouting at him from the middle of the street.
Spaide reportedly opened fire on the couple and shot them both multiple times. Officials said Spaide then went back to his house and got another firearm, which he reportedly used to shoot them again.