Witness statements in homeowner shooting released

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - New documents released in the case involving the deaths of two men at a homeowners association meeting in Louisville show people attending the meeting didn't notice anything wrong with the neighbor who is now charged with two counts of murder.

The Courier-Journal says video statements and transcripts from witnesses at the Sept. 6 meeting were released this week.

One of those attending, Sally Leezer, says Mahmoud Yousef Hindi, 55, was "smiling and seemed pleasant." She and her husband, retired Louisville police officer Raymond Leezer, both said they noticed a satchel Hindi was carrying. Hindi has told police he was carrying a gun and extra bullets in the bag.

He has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges and seven counts of wanton endangerment and asked for a public defender. He is being held without bond, and his next court date is Friday.

Raymond Leezer and board member Horacio Urieta said after Hindi fired two shots, they pushed him against a wall, and Leezer forced him to drop the gun.

Urieta recalled Hindi saying, "I only had two bullets, don't worry about it," though police said the gun was still loaded. "Ray was shouting for someone to call the police and (Hindi) said, 'I'm not going anywhere. Call police.'"

Sally Leezer went to the neighbors who had been shot.

She told police she held the hand of 73-year-old retired federal highway engineer David Merritt, president of the Spring Creek Homeowners Association, and heard him breathe, though he died soon after.

She said Marvin Fisher, who was shot first, tried to get up when she went to him, but she told him to lie down and tried to comfort him.

"I just held his hand and ... told him help was coming," she told police, according to a transcript of her interview. Fisher, a 69-year-old retired bank vice president, died days later.

Sally Leezer said she yelled at Hindi, "Mr. Hindi, what have you done?"

In his own interview after the shooting, Hindi told police that he'd been treated unfairly by Merritt and Fisher, among others, in a dispute over a fence and a driveway built at his family's home.