Neighbor steps in as man stomps 63-year-old to death after running him over, AZ cops say

First, Emmanuel Reynoso Avila heard someone honking their horn outside his home in Mesa, Arizona. Next came the sound of squealing tires.

When he looked out his window, the 20-year-old saw his neighbor “fly through the air” after being rammed by a speeding vehicle, Avila told KNXV.

The accused driver continued down the sidewalk, wrecking mailboxes and landscaping, before returning to run over 63-year-old Christopher Heimer lying in a yard, Mesa police said in a news release.

John Lagana, 61, then got out of his vehicle and began stomping Heimer in the head during the 12:30 p.m. attack Friday, Aug. 12, police said.

That’s when Avila stepped in.

“I couldn’t just stand by and watch my neighbor die senselessly,” he told KNXV. Avila fired a warning shot into the ground and held Lagana at gunpoint until police arrived.

Heimer died of his injuries. Lagana faces a charge of murder.

Police said in the release that Lagana honked his horn outside Heimer’s home until he came out, then struck him with his vehicle.

“No one deserves to go out the way he did,” Avila told KNXV. He said Heimer, whom he had known since he was 8 years old, was “super-friendly” and “really welcoming.”

Police told KNXV that Lagana knew Heimer, who let him park his vehicle at his home while he was homeless. Lagana said his ex-girlfriend was living at Heimer’s home.

Mesa is a city of 504,000 people about 20 miles east of Phoenix.

This story was originally published August 15, 2022 at 7:48 AM with the headline "Neighbor steps in as man stomps 63-year-old to death after running him over, AZ cops say."