[female narrator] they were next-door neighbors
With many things in common.
They were both similar in age,
And they both went through terrible tragedies
In their lives.
They could have been best friends.
[narrator] but instead of sharing backyard barbeques,
They declared war.
There are two huge volumes at the station of petty complaints.
[narrator] their eight-year feud
Would ultimately erupt into violence.
They said we have a neighbor who shot another neighbor
And that this was an ongoing dispute.
He had two gunshot wounds close up,
One in the back and one in the chest.
I saw the hole in his chest.
And he was struggling to breathe.
[narrator] the question was - which neighbor was to blame?
[josh] the night he actually decided to walk over there,
He was just like, I, I, I give up.
I just want this to end.
[richard] it was a powder keg ready to explode.
And when it did explode, somebody was murdered.
[gunshot]
[music]
[narrator] September 24, 2011.
It's just before 3am in the suburbs of santa clarita
California, and most residents are sound asleep.
But their rest is suddenly disturbed
By the sound of gunshots.
[gunshots]
[siren wailing]
[narrator] within minutes, deputies
From the los angeles county sheriff's department arrive
Outside a residence in the area known as canyon country.
They quickly learn that the gunshot victim
Isn't a stranger to the 911 caller.
[gean] when I arrived, there was like a barrier,
A fence that it didn't--
It just covered the front of the house,
Which I thought was kind of unusual.
There were a few neighbors that,
Uh, that were still out and about.
They said we have a neighbor who shot, uh, another neighbor,
And that this was an ongoing dispute.
[richard] it was a chaotic situation.
You had a victim who had obviously been shot,
But you also had an unaccounted gunman.
So, they were trying to get a hold of the situation
While they had an active shooter on their hands.
[narrator] onlookers say the feuding neighbors are
51-year-old lennie paul tracey
And 51-year-old anthony davis.
[richard] there was a standoff
Between the shooter inside the house
And the sheriffs outside that were trying
To get him in custody and protect everyone on scene.
[narrator] as long as the standoff continues,
Paramedics are unable to reach the injured man.
[richard] the deputy sheriffs weren't allowing the emts insid
Because that scene hadn't been actively secured.
We knew who the two parties were.
I'm trying to identify the victim
And to identify the suspect. I needed to investigate further
[narrator] of the two feuding neighbors,
Tony davis was the newest resident.
Tony grew up in sunland tujunga,
A small area in southern california and,
Uh, he went to school up there.
That's where he met my aunt cindy.
They were high school sweethearts.
[narrator] after high school,
Tony and cindy moved in together.
She took an office job while he started his own roofing company
[josh] my uncle tony was an extremely hard worker.
And his roofing business was successful.
[narrator] in 1981,
When tony and cindy were just 20 years old,
They had their first child together, a son named jesse.
They decided to get married,
And four years later, their daughter jamie was born.
[josh] cindy and tony had an amazing home life.
They were very family oriented.
It was dinner every night on the table,
Uh, sit down and talk about each other's day.
[narrator] tony took pride in providing for his family,
But by the time he turned 30,
Construction work had taken its toll.
[josh] roofing was strenuous; it's hard labor.
So, he decided to change careers and went into trucking.
I remember him aiming for his class a license
And how hard he was working on that.
[narrator] while he finished his license,
Tony supplemented his income
With a job at a home improvement store.
But in 1991, a freak accident turned his life upside down.
He was in the warehouse, and a forklift malfunctioned
And backed over him, and backed over his leg
And crushed his leg.
That was obviously a very difficult injury to deal with.
He was on disability at the time,
And he didn't want to sit at home and be stagnant.
So, he actually decided to start going to classes
And start aiming for a bachelor's degree in education.
He fell in love with teaching a lot more than his prior careers.
[narrator] by 2003, tony was back on track.
And after more than 20 years of marriage,
He and cindy decided it was tim to invest in a dream house.
They found it on a cul-de-sac in canyon country.
[josh] that was the first home that they ever purchased.
This house had, like, a beautiful pool, gorgeous yard.
It required a lot of work and, you know,
That was the time and effort
That they were willing to put in together.
They worked really well together as a team.
[narrator] when their nephew moved to california for college
They couple invited him to stay with them.
[josh] they wanted to provide me with support,
And it was amazing.
Every night when I came home,
My uncle tony was waiting there on the couch for me.
[narrator] tony and cindy quickly connecte
With their neighbors, including the couple living next door,
Lennie paul tracey and his wife, sandra.
I lived directly next door to the traceys,
And then the davises were next door to him.
So, we were all three right in a row.
The davises were very friendly.
They were very talkative
In welcoming us into the neighborhood.
[justin] lennie and tony were a lot alike.
Lennie and sandra didn't get married as early
As tony and cindy did,
But that was because lennie
Actually served in the army beforehand.
[narrator] lennie paul tracey was born in 1960
And grew up in simi valley, california.
After the army, lennie, he started his career.
He was a commercial artist.
He focused a lot on print advertising and graphic design.
Along the way, he met sandra, and they built a life together.
And they found their dream home on calypso lane.
Like tony, lennie was sidelined by an accident,
And he was put on disability.
He crashed into a sign, and he tore his meniscus.
That meant that lennie and sandra had to make do
With the money that he was getting from workers' comp.
These were two guys;
They went through horrible situations, tragedies.
You'd think that this would be
Something that people would bond over.
[narrator] but instead of becoming best friends,
The two men turned into enemies
[josh] the issue that started this entire problem
Was that lennie had a large tire
That was leaning against the wooden fence in the backyard.
And my uncle had two large german shepherds,
And the fence was starting to bow in such a way
That it was starting to create an opening in the fence.
And my uncle was worried
That the dogs were going to get through the fence.
My uncle tony decided to take a note
And put it on the door and said
"hey, there's a tire in the backyard.
Is there any way that we can move that?"
[narrator] the note seemed to offend the traceys.
Instead of coming to some kind of arrangement,
They quickly became hostile.
From that note on, it was cop calling,
And it was harassment.
The traceys would file complaints
If they were watering the lawn
Because there was water getting on their sidewalk.
They called the cops one time
Because the, the trash service picked up the trashcans,
But nobody immediately removed them.
They complained about the way the vehicles were parked.
The davises tried to be friendly and talk through it,
But the traceys weren't having it.
[narrator] after years of hostile relations,
Any attempts at mediation have failed.
[josh] the davises were willing,
And they really wanted to sit down and discuss the problems,
And how they could resolve them
And each time, the traceys refused.
[narrator] amidst the chaos of the crime scene,
Sheriffs determine which neighbor was the gunman
And who has been gunned down.
Neighbors on scene were upset with mr. Tracey,
Who they suspected had just shot
And killed their neighbor, mr. Davis.
When I woke up, I heard my aunt cindy screaming outside.
And so, I walked outside.
Tracey was still standing in the doorway with the shotgun
They were ordering him to put down the weapon
And come outside of the house.
He was refusing.
Being uncooperative, standoffish,
Using colorful language.
[narrator] since emts can't act,
A neighbor standing by takes matters into her own hands.
[nichole] I run outside and we started cpr.
Tony was laying on his back.
I didn't know whether or not he was alive.
And so, you know, at that point,
I needed to do whatever I could to try and resuscitate him.
[josh] the only thought that I had
Was that we had to get tony away from the house.
[narrator] unfortunately,
Lennie is still showing no sign of surrender.
[richard] at some point mr. Tracey opened the door,
Peaked his head out,
And told the sheriffs that if they wanted him,
They would have to come in and get him.
[narrator] coming up...
Officers diffuse a dangerous situation.
Sandra was screaming at the police to shut the door.
[narrator] and investigators uncover details
Of a bizarre neighborhood feud.
[gean] there was no question as to what happened.
Why it happened is a totally different issue.
[music]
[narrator] as los angeles county sheriffs
Try to negotiate a surrender with active shooter
51-year-old lennie paul tracey,
Time is running out for his apparent victim
And next-door neighbor, tony davis.
We had to get tony out of the line of fire
And get us out of the line of fire as well.
So, we grabbed tony's arms and his legs,
And we drug him out to the front.
[richard] mr. Davis was originally found on the walkway
About fifteen feet off the doorstep
Of the tracey residence.
They were able to drag him from that walkway
Out into the driveway area,
And he was able to get some medical care from the emts.
He had two gunshot wounds close up,
One in the back and one in the chest.
He was shortly thereafter pronounced dead.
[narrator] sheriffs officially declare the case a homicide
And prepare to storm the tracey residence
To take lennie into custody.
[gib] the sheriff elected to remove
Both mr. And mrs. Tracey
To minimize any further violence that evening.
It was tense for a matter of a few minutes, and at first,
They thought that he was taunting them
About making entry into his house.
Later on, he appeared to them to be more amenable
To a nonviolent resolution of the conflict,
And the deputies were able to safely enter
The front foyer of the house.
They found the shotgun on the couch in the living room.
And mr. Tracey, they immediately handcuffed him.
[narrator] lennie and sandra tracey
Both seem agitated, and under the circumstances,
Their behavior strikes officers as odd.
Sandra was screaming at the police
To shut the door so that her cats don't get out.
That was just crazy to me.
[gib] the traceys seemed more concerned
With the well-being of the cats than mr. Davis's death,
Or even mr. Tracey's, uh, legal troubles.
[richard] once the sheriffs had secured the location,
They were going about the house
Making sure everything was secure.
And the deputy sheriff that was assigned
To watch mr. Tracey actually heard mr. Tracey
Sort of muttering to himself.
[gean] he said, "I've never shot anybody,
Uh, in anger and I was in the army."
I thought, what a strange thing to say or to even come up.
I mean, it was almost like
He thought it was, maybe he missed or something,
Uh, but that's not the case.
[narrator] the traceys are taken into custody
In order for detectives to question them further.
But first, authorities process the crime scene.
[gib] by the front door,
I found two expended shotgun shells...
And one live shell.
Based on the information
That there was a forced entry into the home,
I looked at the front door and found that there was no evidence
That the door was damaged.
There were no kick marks, strike marks.
There were no smudges, et cetera, on the door
That would be in keeping with that scenario.
And as I made my way around the exterior
Of the tracey residence,
I saw a very unusual fence.
The way it was designed looked to be an attempt
At some sort of tactical impediment.
This fence, it was maybe about eight feet long, six feet high,
And it was made out of wood.
It almost looked like a barrier
[narrator] as la sheriffs continue to survey the property
They find more evidence of the feud between the davis
And tracey families.
Along the common wall
That faced towards the davis residence
Were a number of professional-quality signs
That were highly inflammatory,
Made reference to the davises in extremely demeaning,
Um, and hateful light.
They weren't visible from the street,
But if the davises looked over their yard
Towards the traceys' house,
They would become immediately visible.
Mr. Tracey had been a long-term graphic designer
And used his talents as a sign maker
To make these vulgar signs.
And then took the time to post on his outside wall
Facing the davis residence.
One of the signs had an image of a whale
And it was indicating that mrs. Davis was overweight.
All I could think was
How much time and effort went into the sign
And what level of commitment to this feud, if you will,
Uh, had transpired all over those years.
[gean] there was no question as to what happened.
Why it happened is a totally different issue.
[narrator] once tony's widow, cindy davis,
Recovers enough to talk, she offers her side of the feud
According to her,
What started as a neighborly disagreement in 2003
Slowly escalated into increasingly paranoid
And hostile behavior.
There were lots of issues where
Tracey had targeted his daughter
In some of his harassment tactics.
Things like standing out in the yard
With the garden hose and spraying her car
And at her as she walked by to try and go inside her home.
And my uncle tony was telling me to try to-try my best to ignore.
Tracey was very versed
In the city ordinances
And knew just what to say and just what to do
And just what the limits were.
For instance, christmas time,
They had their air conditioner decorated like a christmas gift
On top of the house.
And he called the city so that they had to remove it
Because it was, you know, a hazard.
And so, they made him take it down.
[richard] the traceys had complained that the davises
Had moved their mailbox,
Had not cleaned up their,
Their dog feces in the backyard
And because it was a slightly elevation,
It was affecting their backyard
So, the city inspectors were out there
To investigate that, time and again.
[gib] over the course of the eight-year neighbor feud,
It led to an escalation of each side mounting exterior cameras
With recording devices to monitor the activities
Of the other.
[narrator] cindy tells detectives that in 2006,
She and tony finally reached their limit
And filed a restraining order.
[josh] tony and cindy took out a restraining order
On the traceys to try to stop them from running out
To the car and taking pictures and screaming in the window.
The traceys then pretty much immediately turned around
And filed the exact same restraining order
Against tony and cindy.
After the restraining order, things got pretty intense.
They took a directional speaker and they pointed it at
My aunt and my uncle's house.
And so, all night there was
Extremely loud bird noises playing.
[bird noises playing]
The traceys would take flood lights
And they would strap 'em to the side of their house,
And they would shine 'em
Directly into the bedroom windows all night.
My uncle started sleeping in the living room on the couch
To try to escape that.
Mr. Tracey had that l-shaped fence,
And we believe that he powered an infrared light
From his garage through an extension cord
And then hung that infrared light at the top of that l-shap
And projected that light back toward the davis residence
It functionally blinded
The video surveillance system of the davises.
We believe that to be the triggering event.
[narrator] but investigators still have to hear
The traceys' side of the story.
It was a powder keg ready to explode.
And when it did explode, somebody was murdered.
[josh] the night that my uncle tony
Actually decided to walk over there,
He was just like, "I give up. I just want this to end."
I think that just kind of added fuel to the fire.
[music]
[narrator] hours after tony davis was killed
By his neighbor, lennie paul tracey,
Tony's now-widow, cindy davis,
Tells investigators how their decade-long feud
Finally erupted into violence.
[richard] mrs. Davis said that she had been watching tv
And fell asleep.
And she was awoken by her husband in the morning hours.
He told her he was gonna go next door and ask his neighbor,
Mr. Tracey, to turn off that infrared light.
She didn't think it was a big deal and she went back to sleep
A very short time later, she heard two loud gunshots
In relatively quick succession,
And she hurried over next door
And found her husband lying on the front of the walkway
Of the tracey residence towards the driveway.
Mrs. Davis, seeing her husband with obvious gunshot wound,
Attempted to render aid.
And at a certain point while she was doing this,
She saw the front door open and mr. Tracey,
Still armed with the shotgun, pointing the shotgun at her.
She said mr. Tracey told her to leave
Or the same thing would happen to her.
[narrator] cindy says that's when she ran for help.
Her nephew, josh, describes what happened next.
[josh] I had woke up to screaming.
I ran across to the lawn.
My aunt cindy's running back towards our house,
And she has the phone in her hand,
And she's screaming, "call 911," you know, "they shot him."
And I walk around the corner.
That's when I saw the hole in his chest.
And, uh, he was struggling to breathe.
I kind of put my back towards tracey and,
Uh, you know, to kind of shield my uncle.
He had the door half open
And he was screaming something out of it,
Uh, I didn't really hear it.
And, uh, by that time, everybod was kind of showing up.
[narrator] after collecting cindy and josh's statements,
Detectives attempt to question lennie paul tracey
At the police station where he's being held.
[narrator] lennie remains in custody
While investigators determine exact charges.
His wife, sandra, is more forthcoming.
According to her,
The real villains in this situation are the davises.
Mrs. Tracey indicated that the entirety of the problems
Stemmed from the davises,
And they hadn't done anything offensive,
Or vandalized, or done any of the things
That they were accused of by the davises.
Mrs. Tracey described fear of mr. Davis,
But yet there was nothing to indicate
That there was overt acts or any acts of violence.
Mr. Davis at one point was filming
Mister and mrs. Tracey trolling--
For lack of a better word-- but mr. Davis was on the sidewalk.
[gib] you would probably categorize
Most of these incidents as extremely petty:
Complaints about eggings and acid on the grass.
It also became clear in the interview that
For much of this eight-year feud,
She was relying on information provided by her husband.
And most of the things she cite
Would have the potential for innocent explanations
And fell far short of a crime or a violation
Of the restraining order.
[narrator] she claims the early morning shooting
Was tony's fault.
She did not personally see the confrontation,
But was relayed to her by her husband
That mr. Davis had forced entry into the location,
And that he had no choice but to shoot.
[gib] upon finishing the interview with mrs. Tracey,
Detective okada and I formed the opinion
That she was not a principal in the crime
That had occurred that evening
And we didn't detain her any further.
[narrator] now it's up to detectives
To figure out who's telling the truth.
Is this a legitimate, justified shooting or is this a murder?
[narrator] coming up...
Detectives find evidence of a cover-up.
[gean] someone took out the tape out of the recorder
And tried to hide it.
[narrator] and the traceys' own words come back to haunt them.
[music]
Ic]
[narrator] investigators have heard two different stories
About the events that led to lennie paul tracey
Shooting tony davis.
The question is which one the evidence will support.
[gib] what it came down to quickly was,
Was this a valid self-defense or was this a murder?
And so many of the things that we were doing
Were trying to prove one way or another.
[narrator] less than 12 hours after the shooting,
Detectives are back at the traceys' home
Looking for specific evidence.
[gean] we were looking for any other ammunition
For the shotgun.
We were looking for video recordings
Because they had cameras and recording devices.
[gib] there was a vhs tape deck
That was affixed to the camera system to record.
And notably a vhs tape was not in there, it was empty.
But in the living room,
There was a vhs tape sitting in a reclining chair.
[gean] so, prior to the deputies arriving there,
Someone took the tape out of the recorder
And tried to hide it.
And there was only two people that were inside the house,
That was mr. And mrs. Tracey.
If it was a legitimate self-defense
And you had the tape to prove it, you would say,
"please come see the tape.
"it'll show, it'll justify everything
That I've described to you."
And the fact that that was removed gave us pause.
We recovered video from both locations.
The davises' system was a little more sophisticated
Than the traceys'.
[narrator] between the residences'
Multiple camera angles,
Investigators watch as tony crosses
From one property to the other around 3am.
[gean] you can see mr. Davis walking.
I believe he was in, like, shorts and a big t-shirt.
The traceys' surveillance video that covers the front door area,
The front porch,
And the walkway that proceeds the to the front door,
He was walking to the front.
You don't actually see the front door.
Mr. Tracey is off camera,
But you can see a blast...
[gunshots]
[gib] and then it becomes quite clear
That mr. Davis is shot forward of the front door,
And that he turned around to flee
And was shot a second time, which he dropped.
When you're confronting someone and you shoot them in the chest,
I could understand the--
You could say that it was self-defense, you were afraid,
Or what have you.
But after you shoot someone in the chest,
And the person has-turns around and runs away from you,
And you shoot them again...
[gunshot]
It no longer becomes self-defense.
[narrator] forensic analysis of the physical evidence
Highlights more inconsistencies in lennie's story.
'cause if there was a struggle,
We would imagine most likely mr. Davis
Would have had either scratches or singeing.
The coroner's investigation revealed there was nothing
To indicate that there was a struggle over the weapon
Or with mr. Tracey.
[narrator] a review of the 911 call sandra tracey made
Right after the shooting is equally incriminating.
Instead of mrs. Tracey thanking her husband for protecting her,
Mrs. Tracey was upset with her husband.
I didn't perceive the 911 call
As a, "I'm in imminent danger. Help me please."
It was, it was more, "I'm being bothered."
There is no empathy, there is no, uh, sorrow.
It was more like she was angry.
[gib] after a careful evaluation of the evidence
And review of witness statements and also looking at video,
It became quite clear that this case
Was anything but self-defense.
The only logical explanation was that mr. Tracey
Willfully executed mr. Davis.
And when we took this case to the da's office,
They concurred with our assessment.
Under california law, you have a right to self-defense.
But you can only defend yourself
If it's reasonable under the circumstances.
When you look at the entirety of all the evidence,
It was mr. Tracey that had been the aggressor toward mr. Davis.
He wasn't defending himself or his wife.
[narrator] on September 27, 2011,
Three days after he killed tony davis,
Lennie paul tracey is charged
With one count of first-degree murder
And one count of assault for threatening cindy davis.
Even though he didn't shoot her,
Presenting the weapon as he did
Would be an assault with a deadly weapon.
[gean] it never should have gotten to the point
Where someone died behind this.
It's ridiculous.
[music]
[narrator] on October 24, 2012,
Opening arguments in lennie pau tracey's murder trial begin.
The prosecution theory of the case going into trial
Was pretty simple.
It was that mr. Tracey hated his neighbor
And that he set a trap for mr. Davis.
He baited that trap.
And when mr. Davis fell into the trap,
Mr. Tracey made him pay for his life.
[gunshot]
[narrator] lennie's attorneys maintain
That lennie acted in self-defense.
And they surprise the prosecution
By having lennie take the stand
It was unclear what the defendant was going to say.
And that was a problem for the prosecution.
What mr. Tracey did testify was that he didn't know
Who it was that he was shooting
He said that he had heard
That there had been a rash of burglaries in his neighborhood,
And he feared that the person on the outside
Was a potential burglar.
[narrator] but the d.A. Insists lennie knew exactly
Who he was shooting at.
And the state has the evidence to prove it.
Mr. Tracey's surveillance system was a little bit outdated.
It only worked if somebody pressed record.
And here, somebody had pressed record
Because it actually captured some images before the shooting
Mr. Davis was outside for some period of time
Before the shooting happened.
And if you could see it on the video,
It meant that mr. Tracey also knew who the victim was
Prior to the shooting.
[gean] there was a porch light that lit the front porch area
And under those lighting conditions,
It would have been impossible for mr. Tracey
Not to recognize mr. Davis.
If you're really afraid, and you heard somebody in the outside,
And you thought they were going to intrude into your house,
You would be in a secure location guarding the house,
Instead of opening the door and coming outside.
[narrator] the most damning evidence against lennie
Is what he did after the shooting.
The lasd detectives made an important discovery
When they found that the vcr tape
Had been taken out of the vcr.
It had been hidden.
Hiding that evidence demonstrates
Consciousness of guilt,
Because mr. Tracey understood what was on that videotape
Was going to undercut his eventual argument
Or his statement at trial.
[gib] it was clear that mr. Tracey
Had absolutely no empathy for mr. Davis.
[richard] as I mentioned to the jury in this case,
There was no doubt that mr. Davis
Could have taken better action that night,
And he didn't exercise the best judgment.
He may have committed a trespass.
However, nobody deserves to die because of that.
Mr. Tracey is not the judge, jury, and executioner
On his property.
[narrator] on November 7, 2012, the jury renders its verdict.
The jury agreed that he was guilty of first-degree murder.
Mr. Tracey had acted premeditated, deliberately,
And willfully to kill mr. Davis
He was also found guilty of committing an assault
With a weapon or a firearm against mrs. Davis as well
When mr. Tracey opened the door pointed the gun at her,
And told her to leave the property.
[narrator] on may 10, 2013,
Lennie paul tracey is sentenced from 50 years to life
For the murder of tony davis,
Plus an additional 14 years for assault on cindy davis.
I think he deserved much more.
You know, especially for the predatory behavior.
The consistent attacks.
The constant harassment.
[narrator] for the better part of a decade
Lennie paul tracey and tony davis battled each other.
In the end, neither of them won
[richard] the most tragic part of this case
Is that they could have been best friends.
And instead, one person lost his life
And the other one will be spending his life in prison.
[gib] sandra tracey left the neighborhood and moved on,
But mrs. Davis has remained behind in the residence
And has the support of her family
And most of the neighbors.
Losing tony is, uh...
You know, it's tragic and, uh,
That's definitely somebody that you can never replace
Or get back,
But having, like, having that person in your life
Even if it was for a short period of time,
Is what the lasting impact is.
He was really kind to a lot of people.
He always wanted to give somebody a chance,
You know, to do better.
So, that's how he's always going to be remembered.
[music]