A chance encounter between two neighbors in Otto took a tragic turn on Saturday, leaving one man dead and another in the hospital.
“Based on the information that we’ve been able to gather, it sounds to us like it’s a case of mistaken identity and mental illness,” said Robert Holland, Macon County sheriff.
Michael Kantner, 44, was in a vehicle parked at the entrance to a housing development at Meadowland Circle, just off Georgia Road in Otto, according authorities.
“Kantner got out of the vehicle to talk to a neighbor who had driven up and gotten out of his vehicle,” Holland said.
Kantner, who was president of the neighborhood’s homeowners association, approached Art Osborne, 57, who had just arrived at the scene.
“Osborne was there on the side of the road and was going to do something with the well when he saw Kantner and ask him for permission,” Holland said. “He was going to ask the suspect to look at it and ask a couple of questions about the well.”
“It’s at that time that Mr. Kantner backed his vehicle up and drove that vehicle into Mr. Osborne.”
Both men called 911 to report the incident.
According to Holland, “Kantner says to the 911 dispatcher that ‘I thought he was going to kill me and I rammed his car. I smashed him with my car. Right now I can’t think. What’s wrong with me?”
Kantner then walked into the woods and killed himself with a handgun, Holland said.
Kantner told a witness that he had been threatened by someone the night before but he didn’t know who it was.
“There was not a dispute between him and the victim,” Holland said. “It was basically mistaken identity. There was no history of a dispute. They just vaguely knew each other. We feel suspect may have been suffering from some sort of mental health issues and was obviously very paranoid, based on information we have gathered.”
“It is a tragedy all the way around.”
Osborne was taken to Otto Fire and Rescue, where he was airlifted to Mission Hospital in Asheville. Holland said Osborne’s injuries were not life threatening.