By LEONARD GRAY

ST. ROSE – Neighbors were shocked and dismayed at an apparent murder-suicide in Riverland Trailer Park on Bonura Drive in St. Rose early Monday morning.

Lawrence “Larry” Schneider, 52, of 94 Bonura Drive, allegedly ended a long-standing dispute with neighbor, Randall Ball, 32, of 77 Bonura Drive, when he walked outside just after 3 a.m., crossed the street to Ball’s driveway, and shot Ball once in the head before turning the 30/30 rifle on himself.

Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

Capt. Patrick Yoes of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office said only the two men had a history of arguments in the past. Neighbors had more to say.

Sharlee Meyer, of 81 Bonura, said she and her husband, Jarrod, were asleep when the gunshots awakened them. Meyer, a hunter who used 30/30 rifles himself, said he recognized the sound and climbed out of bed.

He stepped out, cell phone in hand talking to the 911 dispatcher, when he saw Schneider turn the rifle on himself and fire, as he stood under a street light.

“The man just shot himself,” Meyer told the dispatcher. He commented later, “You see it on TV, but you really can’t describe it. The whole right half of his face was gone.”

Jarrod Meyer, still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, was asked to see if the shooting victim he saw was still breathing. He stepped closer and saw Ball’s body as well. Certified in first aid and CPR, Meyer said he could see immediately both were beyond help.

The bodies were found near the end of Ball’s concrete driveway, Schneider laying back with his head on his vehicle’s tire, Ball laying near the street. The St. Rose Volunteer Fire Department soon arrived to hose down the area.

According to neighbors, Schneider and Ball had long-standing disputes over parking in the narrow street and, Sharlee Meyer said, it partly centered on a mutual female acquaintance, Cathy Gaspard.

Yoes said Ball and the female friend arrived at Ball’s residence early Monday morning, and Schneider crossed the street to confront Ball over the situation.

By the time children prepared to walk up to the front of the road to catch the morning school buses, detectives and crime scene technicians were still processing the scene.

Marie Tassin, Sharlee Meyer’s mother, walked up the street and turned several children back to keep the kids from seeing the two bodies.

Some neighbors expressed dismay the bodies had not yet been removed, more than three hours after the fact, and told deputies so. The street was not opened to traffic until 9 a.m.

Melissa Manning of 79 Bonura Drive said she thought the gunshots were thunder. “When I walked out this morning, I looked right and saw the body.”

Schneider reportedly lived with his aged mother and several dogs. Ball, who reportedly introduced himself as “the governor of the trailer park,” was divorced, and lived alone.

“Parents need to cooperate,” Yoes said. “There’s a protocol in collecting evidence. It’s a time-consuming task.”

He urged in such cases that parents need to shield their children and avoid confronting the technicians, who are trying to complete their work in a timely fashion.

“I can’t believe this happened so close to home, ” Manning commented as she placed a tiny handful of colorful flowers on Ball’s driveway, joining those of friend Sandi Gaudin.

Gaudin, who described herself as Ball’s best friend for at least six years, left flowers in a vase, along with a note which read: “To you, Randy, a best friend. Anyone could ask for your memory and love will live in my heart and soul always and you will be missed so much.”

She commented, “I talked to him last night. His heart was bigger than his body.”

Manning, who used to live next door to Schneider and described him as “loony,” added, “I can’t get over that man doing this.”

Francis “Buddy” Bonura, owner of the trailer park, said he only arrived home at 8 a.m. Monday to be confronted with the grisly situation.

“I hadn’t been having too much trouble, to tell you the truth,” Bonura commented. “It’s bad on business, too. But I’ve got good people living back there, some people have stayed there 15 years.”