Romanian Orphanage Filmmaker Shot Dead Over Shrubbery

“A documentary filmmaker known for helping  rescue children from squalid Romanian orphanages in the early 1990s was fatally  shot following a dispute over the trimming of shrubbery outside his Southern  California home.

John Charles Upton Jr. was found dead  Thursday on a dirt path in the yard of his Encinitas home and his neighbor  Michael Vilkin admitted to shooting Mr Upton.

Vilkin, 61, is in jail charged with murder  but he claims that he killed Upton in self defense.

Vilkin was cutting large shrubbery from Mr  Upton’s yard that overflowed into Vilkin’s property.

The two men had arguments throughout much of  the last year, and Vilkin says that is why he brought a .44 Magnum gun with him  when he went to trim the hedge.

‘It was self-defense; I did not go to him. He  came to me threatening and pulled a gun at me. I did not go to him. I stayed  away on my property,’ Vilkin told local 10  News from behind bars.

Police have not said whether Mr Upton, 56,  had a gun on him at the time of the shooting just after 9am Thursday  morning.

‘I shot him; you know, I predicted him to  fall immediately because this is a .44-caliber Magnum,’ Vilkin said.

‘He did not, he did two or three steps toward  me and then I shot him in the head.’

That version of events does not sit well with  Mr Upton’s family, as his brother told the station that it was Vilkin who came  looking for a fight.

Michael Upton told the station that Vilkin  ‘wrapped the gun up inside of a jacket, a hand gun, proceeded to basically I  think kind of bait my brother into a confrontation and pulled the gun out and  shot him right in the head.’

Upton’s brother said that John and Vilkin  previously argued about trees.

This is a second major loss for the family as  Michael Upton said that their mother died from cancer just hours before John.

The late Mr Upton earned recognition in the  1990s after publicizing the brutal conditions in Romanian orphanages.

He was instrumental in bringing an estimated  two dozen orphans to America for medical care and adoption.

Mr Upton’s work in Romania also gained the  attention of influential activists, inspiring billionaire philanthropist Richard  Branson and actress Jessica Lange to help rescue youngsters from  Romania.

Upton went on to create an online network of  films about charitable causes.

Vilkin is being held without bail on first  degree murder charges, and his arraignment will be held on Tuesday.”

 

Documentary filmmaker who found fame by saving Romanian orphans killed by his neighbor after an argument about shrubbery

[Daily Mail 3/29/13 by Meghan Keneally an Associated Press]

REFORM Puzzle Piece