Wintermyer

The American flag flew at half-staff in front of Dave Wintermyer's Springettsbury Township home Monday evening.

Just in front of it, a simple white cross that read "RIP Dave: You are a great American" was placed in the ground with smaller American flags, candles and flowers surrounding it.

Wintermyer, a former U.S. Marine, was gunned down in the street outside his home in the 3800 block of Sylvan Drive Sunday morning when a feud with his neighbor turned deadly.

Spencer L. Newcomer IV, 42, of the 3800 block of Sylvan Drive is charged with a single count of homicide and remains in York County Prison without bail.

An autopsy performed Monday found Wintermyer died of multiple gunshot wounds, said York County Deputy Coroner

Newcomer

Marine: Stacey Warfel, who lives down the street from Wintermyer's home, said Wintermyer was a patriotic man who decorated his lawn for holidays.

"On Memorial Day weekend there were hundreds of little flags on the lawn," she said.

Scott Boyers, who lives with Warfel, said Wintermyer was a Marine for about 20 years until he retired.

When Boyers would walk down the street, Wintermyer would always stop him and ask him about his son, Cody Boyers, who's serving in the U.S. Army.

"Every time I talked to Dave, he wanted to know how my son was," Boyers said.

Wintermyer was known around the neighborhood as the guy who would help out others when he could.

Though he lived about half a block away, Wintermyer could come down and mow Joann Wrights' lawn and shovel snow from her sidewalk when needed.

"He was a doll," Wrights said. "It's such a senseless tragedy."

Wrights has lived in the neighborhood since 1961 and said the shooting was a shock.

Meeting: On Monday, about 40 of Wintermyer's neighbors turned out for a community meeting hosted by Springettsbury Township Police Chief Thomas Hyers at Stony Brook Elementary School. The school is a few blocks away from where the shooting happened.

The meeting gave police a chance to quash any rumors that may be circulating about the shooting, Hyers said.

When a shooting happens, especially in a tight-knit neighborhood like Stony Brook, "I know it strikes at the core of any neighborhood," he said.

Neighbors will see some changes in the area of Sylvan Drive. Officers will be on foot patrol over the next couple of weeks, Hyers said.

Additional meetings to address whatever topics residents wish to talk about could be held in the future, he said.

Help: Kathleen Jansen, a grief councilor with WellSpan Behavioral Health, was also at the meeting and said such an incident could cause neighbors to feel a host of emotions since it happened between two people many knew.

In most cases, it's easy to see who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, she said.

"In a case like this, you can't look at it like that," Jansen said.

She recommended that residents who may have a hard time coping with the shooting call the York/Adams Mental Health-Mental Retardation at 771-9618 for assistance.

- Reach Greg Gross at ggross@yorkdispatch.com.