“I’m a good guy with a gun. He pulled a knife, so I shot him — bang, bang. I feel like I missed the first time, so I did it again.”
nypost.com
Chilling new details emerge in Queens man’s fatal shooting of brother: court docs
By
Kyle Schnitzer,
Kevin Sheehan and
Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
October 16, 2022 5:06pm
Updated
The elderly man accused
of gunning down his own brother in Queens is a former US Customs agent who allegedly told cops he killed his sibling in self-defense — shooting him a few times to make sure he hit him.
Suspect Jethro Jacobs, 73, who lives in Virginia but still owns the family’s Laurelton house, told police he returned to the city to take the siblings’ 92-year-old mother to her sister’s funeral Monday when his “leech” brother, 66-year-old George Jacobs, locked him out of the house over the weekend, court papers show.
“He’s a piece of crap. I’m confessing,” Jethro said, according to documents.
“I’m a good guy with a gun. He pulled a knife, so I shot him — bang, bang. I feel like I missed the first time, so I did it again.”
Jethro — described by his lawyer as a Vietnam veteran who worked for US Customs for 30 years before retiring in 2000 — was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge Sunday. He was ordered held on $250,000 bail in Queens Criminal Court.
Neighbors told The Post on Sunday that the suspect and his brother had been feuding, including over taking care of the home, for years.
Jethro Jacobs was arraigned in Kew Garden Criminal Court October 16. Brigitte Stelzer
The suspect had arrived at the house around 3 a.m. Saturday but was forced to sit in the driveway for hours because his brother had changed the locks, his lawyer said.
Jethro paid for the home so his mom would have a place to stay, but his freeloading brother, a drug addict, stayed there, too, and caused trouble, said the lawyer, Jonathan Latimer.
When Jethro finally confronted his sibling around 7:40 a.m., they got into a heated dispute, which ended when the elder brother shot George Jacobs in the chest, according to cops and the lawyer.
Latimer, in arguing for Jethro to be released without bail, told the judge that it was a clear case of self-defense.
1 of 4
The shooting took place Saturday morning. Joe DeMaria
Jethro Jacobs is reportedly the owner of the home where the dispute took place. Joe DeMaria
The brother was reportedly staying in the home while his brother Jethro Jacobs paid for it. Joe DeMaria
The shooting took place in Queens Sunday. Joe DeMaria
“Mr. Jacobs’ actions that he took were certainly justified,” the lawyer told Judge Denise Johnson. “He was being attacked by a drug-addicted brother who was leeching off his mother.”
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Latimer noted that the gun his client used was legal and that Jethro called the cops and waited for them after the shooting.
But the judge set the $250,000 bail. Jethro’s next court date is Oct. 19.
Neighbors said the feud between the brothers went back several years.
“George is a nice guy, but when it came to his brother, he’s really out there with the aggression,” next-door neighbor Clement Louisy said Sunday. “When he sees him, he just wants to fight. He said that there was family stuff going way back.
“They just didn’t get along, and they can’t stand each other,” Louisy said. “At least that’s what George told me. He told me his brother owned the house and he wasn’t paying rent up until a year ago. A year ago, his mother actually started paying rent.”
He said the siblings have two other brothers who visited occasionally.
Jethro Jacobs worked as a US Customs agent for 30 years.Brigitte Stelzer
“George would do the yard work and the stuff on the outside, but he couldn’t do the work on the interior, and his brother was really getting upset that he was messing up the inside of the house,” Louisy said.
“George’s biggest problem was realizing that he didn’t pay rent and he didn’t own the place, so he shouldn’t be asking for the older brother to pay for fixing up the inside,” the neighbor added. “He would call him and say this is broken or that’s broken, and he wanted his brother to pay to fix stuff.”
Police remained at the home on 230th Place on Sunday, while a GMC Yukon with Virginia license plates sat in the driveway.
Jacobs is being held on $250,000 bail.Joe DeMaria
Another neighbor, Kenneth Livingston, said George Jacobs was a well-liked local figure who was often seen working outside the house.
“They stay to themselves,” Livingston said of the family. “George is a nice guy. I like him. He didn’t deserve what happened to him, especially at the hands of his brother.”
Tony Sonibare, who lives across the street, said a nurse would visit the house regularly to care for the siblings’ mother.
“[George] cleaned out this whole place, and he takes care of that house,” he said. “You always see him out there cleaning and fixing and taking care. Everyone knows him ’cause he’s always out working on his house. He’s a nice man.”
Man shoots 66-year-old in Queens, New York during argument. Christopher Sadowski 
