Father will not face charges after shooting, killing son
CHATTAHOOCHEE HILLS, Ga. - Police said Tuesday they do not plan to file charges against a man who shot and killed his own son.
According to Chattahoochee Hills Police, Lance Fontaine, 81, shot his son Troy Fontaine, 56, during an argument at around 4 a.m.
Police said they originally responded to Fontaine's home on Cascade Palmetto Highway after someone called to report a dispute at the address between a landlord and tenant. When officers arrived, they learned Lance Fontaine rented a home to his son and the two were in a dispute over the property.
"The son came over to the house and threatened the father," said Chief Stoney Mathis. "The father locked him out and he threw a rock through the window. He banged on the door with a piece of wood for a while trying to make forced entry and the father and I think his wife and another son was at the location and they were all very afraid for their life and so he fired one shot through the door."
Troy Fontaine, police said, died at the scene.
Investigators said there was some confusion initially about whose jurisdiction the shooting was in because the home sits rights on the line between Chattahoochee Hills and the City of South Fulton. That, however, did not delay the investigation, said Chief Mathis.
Officers said family members did cooperate with police in the case and this was not the first time the Fontaines interacted with law enforcement. Mathis explained that Lance Fontaine had filed a police report concerning his son in December 2017.
"At the time he had told us that his son was in jail and that he was getting out very soon and that he had made some threats," Chief Mathis said.