Man shoots neighbour in the head five times for disciplining his dog

The victim's fiance says the shooter walked away as if nothing had happened

A Colorado man has been arrested after allegedly shooting his neighbour five times in the head because he thought he was beating his dog.

Michael Kourosh Sadeghi, 32, was arrested for allegedly killing his 42-year-old Denver neighbour, Dustin Schmidt, after an incident in which he is said to have walked into his back yard and unloaded five shots into the back of the neighbour's head.

Vicki Branaghan,— the victim's fiancee — who said she was in the backyard at the time, told the Denver Post that the gun shots followed after Mr Schmidt swatted his dog for trying to jump over their fence.

'We were all three standing there. Mike pulled the gun out and shot Dustin in the back of the head five times,' Ms Branaghan said.

'I was just a few feet away. Mike turned around and walked back to his house as though nothing happened.'

Police have noted that they have seen no indication that Mr Schmidt and Mr Sadeghi did not get along before, and this appeared to be an isolated incident of violence between the two of them.

The two neighbours had had some issues with the dog jumping the fence recently, but Mr Schmidt was reportedly trying to fix the problem.

After the dog began jumping over the fence, Mr Schmidt reportedly installed an electric wiring to deter the animal. But, that approach didn't work.

The incident Tuesday night began when the dog jumped over the fence, but got snagged and was left hanging by its collar. Mr Schmidt reportedly ran to save his dog, and gave it a swat for discipline afterward.

That swat reportedly enraged Mr Sadeghi, who began yelling before shooting his neighbour.