Simi Man, 30, Fatally Shot; Neighbor Held

A festering feud between next-door neighbors ended in gunfire Thursday morning that left a 30-year-old construction worker dying on his front lawn.

Police arrested the alleged gunman, former Moorpark College student Christopher Charles Harbridge, 27, as he fled the 4100 block of Helene Street in his maroon Dodge Caravan. Police said he was booked on suspicion of killing Ron Tracy Rowe.

“It was a problem waiting to happen,” said a tearful John Rowe of Palmdale, the victim’s older brother.

Bickering between the two men spanned about five years, and would often involve shouting and shoving, according to family members, friends and residents in this neighborhood of tidy single-family homes.

Neighbors for almost a decade, Rowe and Harbridge would needle each other with such seemingly minor jabs as depositing an unclaimed car steering wheel on the other’s porch or spraying grass clippings on the other’s freshly washed car.

Police first learned of the shooting from an 8:28 a.m. 911 call placed by John Rowe, 55, the victim’s father and a witness to the shooting. After a shouting match on the Rowe family lawn, police say Harbridge fired one shot from a .38-caliber revolver into the ground and a second into Rowe’s chest at close range.

Rowe died later in the emergency room of Simi Valley Hospital.

Harbridge, an aspiring musician and former staffer on the Moorpark College Reporter, sprinted back to his home, said his 18-year-old roommate, who would not give his name.

“He said, ‘Lock the door,’ and he got into his van and drove off,” the roommate said.

Harbridge was taken into custody without incident about 1 1/2 miles away, near the intersection of Cochran and Stow streets, after Simi Valley Police Sgt. Arch Morgan recognized a dispatch description of his car.

Nobody seemed to know how the feud started, or what sparked Thursday’s fatal dispute.

“They just hadn’t gotten along for a long time,” Simi Valley Police Sgt. Andy McCluskey said. “What the exact catalyst was, we don’t know.”

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John Turgeon, 31, who lives a few blocks away and said he is a friend to both men, said: “They just didn’t ever like each other. They would always pick at each other. . . . I just knew this was going to happen--Chris is a hothead.”

Police were not strangers to disputes involving the two men. Both have police records.

On Thanksgiving Day, police responded to a quarrel between Rowe and Harbridge involving a light at Rowe’s house. That incident ended without violence, Simi Valley Police Sgt. Bob Gardner said. Police had visited Rowe’s house for “three or four occurrences within the last year, not necessarily involving the suspect,” he added.

People who knew the men well described them as longtime rivals who antagonized each other like siblings.

Rowe, whose mother died of a massive heart attack when he was a teenager, was a sometimes mouthy but well-intentioned man, family and friends said.

“He was a good friend,” said Rick Pizzano, who lives across the street. “He was always there when I would need help, and I was always there when he needed help. He was a good kid. . . . I can’t believe he’s gone.”

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Friends describe Harbridge as an outspoken gun enthusiast who enjoys practicing the guitar, drinking an occasional beer and playing with his two dogs, Sunny and Shadow. His roommates said they didn’t see any signs of a hot temper.

But the shooting came as no surprise to Turgeon, who had known both men since they were in their late teens. He said they had been friends at times, but it was an on-again, off-again friendship that eventually dissolved into the feud.

Rowe and Harbridge had both been Simi Valley High School students, and brawled and bickered frequently--usually over small issues. A beefier and taller man, Rowe would often get the best of Harbridge, Turgeon said.

In quarrels with Rowe and others, Harbridge would mention that he owned a firearm, Turgeon added.

“He threatened people with his gun a lot.”

Police said Harbridge did not have a concealed weapon permit.

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At Moorpark College, Harbridge worked for the student newspaper, said Dan Darby, editor in chief of the Moorpark College Reporter.

Harbridge was in turns obnoxious and helpful, capable of hurling insults and sexist remarks at fellow students or listening carefully to the opinions of others, Darby said. “He was back-and-forth. He had the idea that he knew how things should work and other people didn’t.”

Harbridge vigorously opposed anything that he felt hampered the freedom of the student press, Darby said. In particular, Harbridge believed that one of the paper’s faculty advisors, Bona Dillon, exerted too much control over the publication. He began working on an article criticizing Dillon and threatened to publish it unless she resigned, Darby said.

At one point, Harbridge allegedly stole one of Dillon’s notebooks, Darby said. After he was confronted about it, Harbridge resigned from the paper.

Dillon declined to talk about Harbridge’s tenure at the paper, but said he left Moorpark College in mid-October.

Both Rowe and Harbridge had several run-ins with the law over the years, according to court records.

Rowe was arrested and tried for battery against another neighbor in 1995, and for vandalism and fighting earlier this year, court records show. The charges on both of those cases were dropped for lack of evidence.

Harbridge also had a record of several arrests, the latest being in 1993 when he was convicted of vandalism for slashing the tires of a cable company truck.

During that incident, Comcast Cablevision employee Tomer Samuel went to Harbridge’s home on a routine disconnection call, according to operations manager John Jackson.

“The guy wasn’t happy about it and he took it out on his tires,” Jackson said.

Samuel, who was not injured in the incident, said he did not see the tire slashing, but he had inklings about who committed the crime.

“On the outside, he looked like a normal person,” Samuel said. “He didn’t seem like he could do something that bad.”

Harbridge was ordered to serve about 15 days in the County Jail and pay restitution to the victim. He was also sentenced to 36 months probation, starting in February 1994, for the incident.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilson and correspondents Scott Steepleton and Scott Hadly contributed to this story.