A Christmas night domestic dispute between two men in Madisonville leaves one dead and his romantic partner in jail facing a manslaughter charge. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Lee says the suspect, 57-year-old Harry Cleland claims he fired multiple shots at the victim after the victim threatened him with a machete.
“There’s obviously some things we are looking at at the totality of the scene, where this machete was in relation to the decedent, the distance between the decedent and the shooter. A number of things go into an investigation like this,” said Lee.
Cleland called 911 after firing multiple shots at the victim. Lee says this is the second incident of domestic violence that has ended in death in the parish in the last two days.
“Obviously, it is the holiday season. Emotions are running high, especially with families. It’s just very unfortunate,” said Lee.
Lee says it appears that Cleland has previously had minimal run-ins with the law, with the exception of a gun-related incident in 2012.
“There was a complaint by a neighbor that he had discharged a firearm. We had investigated that incident and apparently he had fired a shotgun into the ground,” said Lee.
