MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Heather Bowman was packing up her car Friday afternoon to head to her daughter’s home around the corner. She was going to check on their pets and help clean the driveway.
She packed a broom in the car as well.
But then her neighbor, 66-year-old Fan Lin, approached her. She’s had violent encounters with him in the past, so she grabbed the broom from her car. But that didn’t last long.
“He took the broom from me and struck me,” she said.
She called police.
When they got out to the neighborhood they said they tried to talk to him but instead he went into his backyard and grabbed a hatchet.
Officers said he came out swinging at them.
“He then was Tased by them with the kind of Taser with a cord. He took the hatchet and cut it,” Bowman said.
Police said they had to use the stun gun on him three times to get him into custody.
“Oh my gosh ya I believe it,” another neighbor said.
She said she was not surprised by any of the latest development because she had a scary issue with him about two years ago when she was walking her dog with her young child.
“He locked me inside his house and wanted more things with me,” she said of the encounter.
She said she forced him to let her out and got away but never called 911.
Online records showed Lin had a clean record until Friday.
His neighbors said they didn’t know why he has problems with them and no one answered when WREG tried to ask.
The experience has taught Bowman a lesson.
“If you are put in a circumstance where you feel uncomfortable or anytime, watch what’s going on around you. Always,” she said.
Police said Lin did not speak fluent English. He bonded out of the Shelby County jail, according to records.