CEDAR CITY, Utah – The owner of a photography studio has been arrested for hurling metal projectiles — bolts, small bearings and copper-jacketed bullets — at the front window of a rival photo studio.
"I just got angry, and I let it build and build," said Kurtis Leany, the 51-year-old proprietor of Zion Photography. "It's the only way I knew to take it out."
Leany said he started getting angry at the owner of Studio West Photography a dozen years ago. He said Karl Hugh was "verbally trashing me" and stole his pageantry photography business this summer for the Miss Iron County competition. The studios are three blocks apart.
Hugh said he had no idea he was involved in a feud, adding, "Honestly, when I found out who it was, I couldn't believe it."
It wasn't the first time Hugh said he had been the victim of a window-bashing vandalism on his studio, home and car.
He slept Thursday night at his studio with a video camera ready.
"I thought, 'I'm gonna catch this guy,"' Hugh said. And he did — at 5:30 a.m. Friday.
Leany was booked into the Iron County jail on five counts of criminal mischief and released on $5,000 bail.
Leany, who used a slingshot, said he will pay for damages.
"I'm actually glad I got caught. I needed this abrupt stop," he said. "I'm really sorry for what I did."
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