Double Murder In Wallace

Two Calaveras County women are dead and a 63-year-old man is in custody after he shot and killed his neighbors Tuesday morning following a dispute in Wallace.

Calaveras County Sheriff´s spokeswoman Debi Parsons says Deputies were called to 6997 Highway 12 in Wallace around 10 a.m. after 63-year-old Peter Chiesa called and told dispatchers he was going to “shoot his neighbors because they were going to cut down a tree.”

Parsons says minutes later, before deputies could arrive at the home, another 911 call came in from the next-door neighbor, saying his mother had just been shot.

Law enforcement officials surrounded the home located just south of Comanche Lake near the San Joaquin County border. Deputies were in contact with Chiesa by phone during the standoff. He was finally taken into custody at 1:46 p.m.

The names of the two victims have not been released.