Ledger-Dispatch

By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.c= om)=20 - Bill Lavallie=20

Zen Zimmerman of Fiddletown was = arrested on=20 suspicion of murder after having warned emergency dispatchers he = might=20 shoot his neighbor, John O'Sullivan.

John O'Sullivan of Fiddletown was found = dead on=20 his tractor Sunday night by deputies from the Amador County = Sheriff's=20 Office. He had apparently been shot to death after a fight with=20 Zimmerman.
Amador County experienced its = first fatal=20 shooting of the year Sunday night when an escalating feud between = property=20 owners ended in bloodshed.

The incident became known to law = enforcement=20 around 7:45 p.m. when emergency dispatchers learned that a potentially = serious=20 fight was occurring in the remote countryside above Fiddletown. = Officials from=20 the Amador County Sheriff's Office said that dispatchers had received a = call=20 from Kenneth John Zimmerman, a 56-year-old man who lives on Jura Lane = just past=20 the secluded fields around Hale Road. During his emergency call, = Zimmerman=20 reported that his immediate neighbor, 47-year-old John Michael = O'Sullivan, had=20 broken through his gate on a tractor. Zimmerman went on to tell the = dispatchers=20 that O'Sullivan had struck him in the face with an open hand and then = attempted=20 to run him over with the tractor.

Zimmerman ended his phone call = by=20 telling authorities that the sheriff's office better hurry up and get = there=20 "before I shoot him."

Exactly 13 minutes after Zimmerman's call = was=20 first received by dispatchers, O'Sullivan's wife, Krista Clem, made her = own 911=20 call. Clem told dispatchers that she'd heard several gunshots and = couldn't find=20 her husband.

Sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene within 10 = minutes=20 of Clem's call. They arrived to find Zimmerman blocking the roadway with = a=20 vehicle. When questioned, Zimmerman told the deputies that O'Sullivan = was near=20 the gate he'd driven through. He also informed them that the gun he'd = fired was=20 in his house.

The officers soon discovered O'Sullivan dead on = his=20 tractor in a cluster of brush near the side of the road - the apparent = victim of=20 multiple gunshot wounds.

Detectives from the sheriff's office = executed a=20 search warrant on Zimmerman's property and home. They characterized the=20 investigation as "open and ongoing."

Zimmerman was arrested and = booked=20 into the Amador County Jail on suspicion of murder. He is currently = being held=20 without bail.

Scott Thomas = Anderson