Frank Spillman, 94, complained for years about how his landlord was harassing him, neighbors say. With a few choice curse words, Spillman railed about how Kulbushan Gupta would demand that he clean the yard, rake the leaves and keep the Oakland property neat.

Spillman worried constantly that Gupta, 64, planned to evict him and even voiced suspicions that Gupta had poisoned his beloved chickens - the ones that gave him eggs - because the landlord was upset about their droppings.

The enmity between the two men erupted in violence shortly before 7:30 p.m. Thursday when Spillman, who has hearing problems, walks with a cane and kept a .22-caliber weapon with him for protection, shot and killed Gupta when the landlord visited his home in the Fruitvale district, police said.

Spillman went down the stairs after him, firing several more shots, police said. Gupta collapsed in an adjacent store parking lot and died three hours later