Dispute at retirement community turns ugly as 76-year-old woman fires flare gun at neighbor’s face

A 76-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly shooting her neighbor in the face with a flare gun. Both the alleged attacker and the victim both lived in a retirement community in Long Island and had been feuding for months.

Kathleen Schuman is facing one count of second degree assault causing injury with a weapon according to records viewed by PEOPLE. The incident in question occurred on Monday September 8 and Schuman was arrested the same day, on Tuesday, she pleaded not guilty during her arraignment. 

What did Kathleen Schuman allegedly do?

The victim was identified as 67-year-old Richard Catrone by NBC 4 New York. According to reports, he had to get six stitches in his cheek after Schuman allegedly fired her flare gun directly at his face. 

Ring video footage shows a woman standing in front of the camera with her back to it, Catrone can be seen in the background. The woman then fires a shot at him and the flare can be seen bouncing off of his face and flying to the left. Catrone then rushes the woman and grabs her aggressively by the hair before dragging her to the ground while shouting “what is wrong with you?”

He knocked the gun out of her hand, telling NBC 4 New York, “My next inclination was to get the gun and I knocked it out of her hand and she went to get it and I wanted to protect my dog. I wanted to protect myself.” 

“Kathleen showed no emotion,” Catrone continued, “She claimed I was the devil, that I tried to murder her. She said, ‘I’m sorry I missed, sorry I missed.’“

What was the reason for this?

According to the neighbors, the confrontation had stemmed from months of feuding over pets. Catrone had allegedly demanded that Schuman keep her cat inside as it was distressing his dog whenever they walked past. “[he] started harassing her because he said her cat was always upsetting his dog and she would sit outside with it,” neighbor Mary Neitzel claimed.

According to Neitzel, Catrone had been continuously bothering her over the situation with their pets. However, Catrone denies Neitzel’s version of the story, claiming, “I just asked her can you keep the cat inside and that started the situation.”

Whatever the feud was about, a flare to the face isn’t going to solve anybody’s problem. Meanwhile the management company in charge of the property, Conifer LLC., released a statement shortly after the incident assuring other residents of the retirement community that it was a one-off and that they were co-operating with the authorities on the matter. Schuman’s next court appearance is set for Friday September 12.