Brian Laundrie: Fight breaks out between protester and neighbour at parents’ home
‘You’re going to jail,’ protester tells Laundrie neighbour after a violent altercation outside the family home
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A neighbour of the Laundrie family has been charged with battery after allegedly throwing a punch at a protester outside the home.
Tensions had been growing after days of protests at the residence in North Port, Florida, as Gabby Petito supporters taunted Brian’s parents Christopher and Roberta Laundrie and urged them to cooperate with authorities.
At about 6pm on Wednesday night, a neighbour confronted the protester and accused him of trespassing on his property.
A fight broke out in front of the Laundries’ North Port home this evening when a neighbor accused a protester of going on his property.#GabbyPetito #BrianLaundrie
— Paul Best (@KincaidBest) September 30, 2021
WARNING: Profanity laced clip below pic.twitter.com/3jg8ZkRkE5
The exchange, caught on camera, shows the neighbour appear to take a swing at the protester and tell him to leave the street.
“You can sit here all you want with your megaphone. I don’t care, but you come on my property again, I’m going to f****** beat your a**,” the neighbor yells in a profanity-laced rant.
The protester, who was filming the altercation, responds: “You’re going to jail. You just assaulted me on camera.”
North Port Police spokesman Josh Taylor confirmed to The Independent that a neighbour of the Laundries was arrested and charged with battery on Wednesday.
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The Laundrie home has seen daily protests by demonstrators carrying loudhailers and posters, demanding answers from Mr Laundrie’s parents.
Hundreds of concerned members of the public have also left flowers at a makeshift memorial at the home.
The protester in the video, named as Jonathan Riches, has been outside the Laundrie home every day for the past two weeks.
He has previously exhorted the Laundries to “stop hiding – accept responsibility.”
On Saturday, Mr Laundrie’s mother Roberta called police after Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman showed up at their home and announced he was joining the hunt.
Brian Laundrie disappeared from the family home on about 14 September, and is evading a nationwide FBI-led manhunt.
His parents have denied any knowledge of where their son is.
Mr Laundrie returned from a van-life trip with girlfriend Gabby Petito on 1 September.
Ms Petito’s death was ruled a homicide after a preliminary autopsy, and Mr Laundrie was named a person of interest in her disappearance.