A West Odessa man jailed on murder charges this week telephoned the Ector County Sheriff’s Office at least eight times over the past two years to report multiple broken windows, property damage and other misdeeds that he blamed on the two neighbors he’s accused of shooting.

Two days before Santiago Lara Jimenez reportedly gunned down 19-year-old Ernest G. Byer Jr. and wounded his father, a friend staying on Jimenez’s property reported several hundred dollars in damage to Jimenez’s pickup. Jimenez was hospitalized at the time but requested the authorities conduct “a two-week close patrol in the neighborhood due to racing, loud parties in the area and gunshots,” sheriff’s office records show.

The incident highlighted a history of hostility between Jimenez and the Byers, whose mobile home sits just across the street from Jimenez’s residence on West Maria Drive. After an argument with the Byers on Sunday over the most recent property damage, Jimenez reportedly took matters into his own hands.

Jimenez, 68, was charged with murder and attempted murder after authorities responded to a “shots fired” call and found Byer Jr. dead in front of his mobile home and the elder Byer wounded inside a vehicle. Jimenez was being held Tuesday in the Ector County Detention Center in lieu of $750,000 bond.

Sheriff’s office records show Jimenez began complaining to law enforcement about his neighbors in the summer of 2008. He called at least four times over a three-week span to report shattered windows on his front porch, vehicle and mobile home, records show.

“They were messing with him,” Jimenez’s daughter, Irma, said of the neighbors.

Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson said the Byers also filed complaints about Jimenez at times. Though Jimenez’s family members have said authorities should have done something sooner to settle the conflict, Donaldson said sheriff’s deputies did everything they could and suggested the shooting was inevitable.

“Obviously these groups of people did not like each other,” Donaldson said. “As far as preventing it, I guess if one or the other was in jail for the rest of their life it would have prevented it. The thing that would have prevented it would have been if Mr. Jimenez hadn’t acted upon his aggression.”

In each of the instances, sheriff’s deputies were only informed of the damage several hours or even days after it reportedly occurred, and Jimenez was told there was little that law enforcement could do without evidence.

Sgt. Gary Duesler, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said it was not clear whether sheriff’s officials increased patrols around Jimenez’s property after the Friday incident, but he said authorities “would have no reason not to.”

“There are a limited amount of deputies on full nights anyway,” he said. “We do the best we can to get out there.”

Each time Jimenez called, deputies scanned the damage for signs of BB pellets or other objects and never found anything that could have broken the windows. One deputy suggested Jimenez set up a video camera to capture any vandals in the act.

On July 31, 2008, Deputy Allen Sutphen was dispatched to Jimenez’s mobile home — the second trip sheriff’s deputies made to the residence that day. Records show Jimenez told Sutphen that a neighbor, who is not identified in the report, came over and “yelled at him.” Jimenez also tried to explain to the deputy what he captured on video, but records indicate that a language barrier complicated their conversation.

“I asked Mr. Jimenez what the tape showed and he advised that the neighbor had come over and yelled at him,” Sutphen logged in his report. “Mr. Jimenez was not fluent in English and was unable to tell me what was on the tape.” Sutphen took the video as evidence, but it’s not clear whether deputies followed up on the incident.

Donaldson said having a Spanish-speaking officer wouldn’t have changed anything on Sutphen’s call since Sutphen’s only responsibility was to pick up the tape.

Duesler said sheriff’s deputies frequently encounter language barriers.

“We try to get an officer that’s on shift (who speaks Spanish),” Duesler said. “That is something that comes up from time to time.”

Family members said they were surprised to hear of the violence attributed to Jimenez. But local court documents show Jimenez’s ex-wife once called authorities after he reportedly broke into her residence. Jimenez’s ex-wife said in an affidavit for a protective order that she once filed spousal rape charges against Jimenez but heard nothing back from authorities.

Jimenez was not permitted to speak to the Odessa American on Tuesday, as jail officials said he had already received his two visitors for the week.