Citrus Heights police went to the 7700 block of Bierston Street this morning after reports that a resident had shot an intruder.
Turns out, the supposed intruder was actually the resident's former rooommate, who came to settle a drug dispute by grabbing some of the resident's pot plants growing in the backyard, according to Citrus Heights police.
The 34-year-old former roommate was taken to a local hospital with shotgun wounds that were not life-threatening, police said. The resident, later identified by police as 37-year-old Jeri Higby, was taken to jail.
Police arrested Higby on suspicion of arrest with a deadly weapon. He is being held in the Sacramento County Main Jail in lieu of $75,000.
When police arrived, they found the victim in the resident's backyard. Higby was cooperative, authorities said; however, it was not immediately clear whether initial information that the man he shot was trying to break in was accurate.
Detectives later learned that Higby was in an ongoing fight with his former roommate regarding an amount of marijuana, according to Detective Chad Morris. That former roommate came to the Bierston Street home today and attempted to take marijuana plants from the backyard. The shooting followed an argument between the men, Morris said.
According to Sacramento Superior Court records available online, Higby has a criminal record that includes convictions for misdemeanor possession of stolen property and grand theft.
He was sent to a drug diversion program in 1998 and again the next year after he was charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance, records show. That charge later was dismissed.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.