Louisville, Kentucky police say that they have arrested and detained a 51-year-old man over a campaign of threats and harassment directed toward his Hispanic neighbors.
WDRB Channel 41 reported that Douglas Poynter painted slurs on the family's fence, shouted racist epithets and doused their property in gasoline, threatening to set it ablaze.
According to the warrant for Poynter's arrest, the trouble simmered for months before boiling over on Aug. 31, when Jesus Alamo and his family returned home from an outing to find the words "KKK wants you to burn" painted on the section of wooden fence around Poynter's yard that faces their house.
Poynter had also reportedly erected a cross in the side yard with the word "burn" painted across it. He was still in the yard when the family arrived home, and when they asked him why he would do such a thing, he began shouting, "F*ck you! F*ck all you immigrants!"
Alamo told WDRB, "He started threatening me and said the first chance I get, you're mine. I'm gonna shoot you. Then he started pointing his shotgun out of the window."
Poynter then reportedly took a swing at Alamo, setting off a scuffle. Alamo's 9-year-old stepdaughter called the police.
As Alamo stood holding his 22-month-old son, Poynter -- still shouting that he intended to shoot his neighbor -- went into his house and emerged moments later holding a shotgun, which he aimed at Alamo.
When police arrived, they determined that Poynter was intoxicated and did not take him into custody.
On Sep. 1, the Alamo family awoke to a strong smell of gasoline in the house. Upon investigation, they found puddles of gas outside all of the home's entrances and that several areas around the property had been drenched in the accelerant.
Again, they called the police. While the Alamo family waited for authorities to arrive, Poynter again emerged from his house with the shotgun and shouted death threats at Jesus Alamo and his family.
"Sooner or later, you're gonna die. You and your family," he said.
Police arrived at the scene and took Poynter into custody at gunpoint and advised the Alamo family to file a criminal complaint against their neighbor.
The family has reportedly been at odds with Poynter for months. The 51-year-old has, over the last several months, reportedly walked into their house without knocking or waiting to be admitted, threatened them and shouted racial epithets at every member of the family, including their 12-year-old twins, the 9-year-old daughter and the 22-month-old toddler.
Louisville police arrested Poynter and charged him with criminal trespassing, attempted arson, terroristic threatening, wanton endangerment, harassment and menacing. He was released on Wednesday afternoon on $10,000 bond.
Watch video about this story, embedded below:
[image of Douglas Poynter via screencap]
