Continuous neighborly feud takes turn with 72-year-old man’s arrest

Bradley Connell, 72, of Brixey, is being held in the Ozark County Jail without bond in a case where he is charged with unlawful use of a weapon (exhibiting), armed criminal action and assault for allegedly threatening his neighbors with a gun in early October. 

Connell, who lives on Huckleberry Lane in Brixey, was arrested Oct. 10 after a warrant was issued. A bond reduction hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, in Wright County before Judge Raymond Gross. Connell is being represented by Joshua Brown of Pointer, Blackburn & Brown in Gainesville, Ava and Mountain Grove. John Tyrell is serving as a special prosecutor in the case. 

According to the probable cause statement prepared by Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Lane, he and fellow Deputy Vesa Phelan responded to a call at 6:35 p.m. Oct. 2 after a woman reported that their neighbor, Connell, pointed a gun at her and her two children while in the road near their homes. 

She also told police that he told her he was “assigned to her,” and threatened her life, the report says. 

The woman said there had been an ongoing property dispute between their family and the neighbor, which is currently being handled in the court system. She said that the dispute involves the easement to her property, and McConnell has blocked the roadway with large rocks and set spike traps in the road to limit their movement. The family says the blockages have caused them to be able to only drive on the right side of the gravel road and in the ditch. 

“The [caller] said twice that Mr. Connell had blocked the road in the manner resulting in them driving halfway in the ditch where they ended up with flat tires due to spikes placed in the ditch by Mr. Connell. The [caller] stated he had also pointed a pistol in her father’s face when her father was attempting to remove the rocks from the road,” Lane wrote in the report. 

The woman said that the immediate incident of concern occurred that day when she had been walking down the road with her two children, ages 3 and 11. She said Connell came out of the woodline with a firearm on his shoulder, shouting for her to get off his property, the report says. She said he also began blowing sirens from his fence. 

“The [woman] explained to Mr. Connell she was just walking her children down the road, and she was on her easement and had a right to be on the road,” Lane said. 

The woman said at that point her father walked down the road shouting, and that was when Connell lowered the firearm, chambered a round and told her “I could do all sorts of things to you like blow out your knees.”

The woman said the two children were present for the entire incident. She said at that point, she and her father grabbed the kids and ran back to their home, where they called law enforcement and waited for their arrival. 

“Once Deputy Phelan and I were on the road, we noticed a man in all black cross from the left to the right side of the road and [went] back into Mr. Connell’s yard. While passing the yard, we saw no indication of the [father of the caller who was] wanting to speak with us in the yard, so we continued to drive to the dead-end driveway to the [caller’s home]. While making our way past the yard, several lights, sirens and cameras were spotted on the fence and trees facing the road,” Lane wrote. The Ozark County weekly sheriff’s report show that the property dispute has continued for several years now.