Former Las Vegas pastor Andrew Cote has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the murders of his elderly neighbor and her friend. Cote had been engaged in an ongoing feud with the two victims for more than a decade.
According to Oxygen, Cote had been a pastor at Iglesia Bautista de Fe y Amor, which shares a facility with Mountain View Baptist Church in Las Vegas.
The victims were 71-year-old Mildred Olivo and her 54-year-old friend Timothy Hanson.
The murders, which happened in 2020, came after an altercation between the neighbors earlier in the day, wherein Olivo allegedly sprayed Cote and his 9-year-old daughter with a garden hose. Cote called the police and filed a report. The two had reportedly called the police on each other on multiple occasions during their time as next-door neighbors.
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Olivo subsequently called Hanson to come over as a means of protection from Cote later in the day. Hanson then began yelling at him over a brick wall dividing the two properties in the backyard.
According to police, Cote came to the backyard armed with a shotgun, where he found his daughter. During trial, Cote testified that Hanson was yelling at the girl to “go get your daddy.”
While the two were unarmed, Cote testified that he believed they were a threat to the life of his daughter and shot them both in the head.
“That was my reality on that night when I had to protect my 9-year-old firstborn daughter from a potential loss of life,” Cote said.
Cote shot Hanson in the head a second time after he noticed he was “still moving,” according to 8NewsNow. He then took his daughter inside and called the police.
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Cote would later testify that he had no intention of speaking to Hanson or Olivo before fatally shooting them. Cote had reportedly filed a restraining order against Olivo roughly two months prior.
