Landlord shoots tenant during argument about thermostat, according to police

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Inset: Adam Anson (Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation). Background: Miami home where Anson allegedly murdered his tenant (Google Maps).

A Miami landlord allegedly murdered his tenant after a dispute over the setting on the thermostat as temperatures in South Florida dipped into the high 40s.

Adam Louis Anson, 37, lives in a home in the 9400 block of SW 17th Terrace with an attached efficiency apartment that he rents to tenants. The home’s thermostat is located in a hallway within the apartment, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. Anson allegedly armed himself with a handgun and went to the apartment side of the home around 8 a.m. Saturday and knocked on the window with the intention of changing the setting on the thermostat.

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The victim, 57-year-old Carlos Alberto Gonzalez, opened the door. That’s when Anson “forced himself inside the efficiency and began to punch the victim unprovoked,” cops wrote. Anson allegedly “dragged” Gonzalez outside to the backyard where he shot the victim several times in the head.

Anson then walked inside the apartment and adjusted the thermostat to his liking before returning to his side of the home and calling 911, cops wrote. Emergency personnel arrived and rushed Gonzalez to the hospital where he died.

Anson claimed self-defense. He said Gonzalez tried to punch him so he pulled out a gun and shot him, per the affidavit.

But cops saw no evidence of self-defense and arrested Anson on charges of second-degree murder and armed burglary with assault.

It’s unclear exactly why Anson was allegedly so upset about the thermostat setting, but according to AccuWeather temperatures in the Sunshine State were in the high 40s, which is chilly for Floridians accustomed to balmy weather.

Anson remains at a Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation facility without bond. His next court date is scheduled for Feb. 18.

Local NBC affiliate WTVJ spoke to neighbors who said tensions have been high at the home and deputies have responded there several times. Leyani Perez, who lives behind the home in question, described how she heard a commotion followed by gunfire.

“After seconds, I was able to recognize that something wrong was happening in my backyard and I was extremely scared,” she said. “I started screaming and I called my husband, ‘Hey go to the backyard because I feel a stranger is in the backyard.’ Then I heard boom, boom, boom, boom.”