"Parking Rage" Leads to Tenn. Murder, 18-Year Prison Sentence

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (CBS/AP) It was a deadly case of "parking rage."

Sixty-one-year old Harry Ray Coleman, who fatally shot another Tennessee man in a dispute over how close they were parked, was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison. Coleman, a real estate investor, was convicted in July of second-degree murder for the shooting death of 52-year-old Robert Schwerin.

The deadly encounter occurred on Feb. 6, 2009, in a shopping center parking lot in Cordova, Tenn. according to The Commercial Appeal newspaper.

The fight started when Schwerin became upset because Coleman's Hummer was parked close to his GMC Yukon.

According to court testimony, Schwerin then exchanged insults and profanities with Coleman's wife. Schwerin's son, Colt, testified that Coleman's wife poked his father in the chest and taunted him.

Colt Schwerin said Harry Coleman became enraged when his father nudged Katheryn Coleman aside, and then shot his father in the chest.

All three of the victim's children, ages 16 to 22, testified that Schwerin acted inappropriately but was unarmed and posed no threat to Coleman, the Appeal reported.

Coleman had testified that he fired because he feared for his and his wife's safety.