A California man warned officers he would kill his neighbor, but despite the threat, he was freed from custody just two days later.
Jamal ‘JT’ Thomas once lived beside Miles and Melina Armstead in Oakland’s Eastmont Hills area.
Although JT had been staying at the property with his parents, they were removed from the home in August 2019. He then remained there unlawfully, even after new occupants had moved in. Over the months that followed, the Armsteads say his behavior toward them became increasingly aggressive.
What began with repeated late-night knocking and ringing at their door escalated into broken windows and shouted abuse.
Melina said in Netflix’s Worst Neighbor Ever that rocks or bricks were thrown through their windows more than 20 times during the ordeal. The damage became so frequent that the family eventually covered the windows with boards in an effort to shield themselves.
Miles tried addressing JT directly, but the confrontations did not improve the situation. According to the documentary, the father-of-three became so concerned for his family’s safety that he would sit outside at night with the family’s Boxer dog and a baseball bat.
At one point, Miles and Melina obtained a restraining order requiring JT to keep 100 yards away from both them and their home. Then, in February 2020, another dispute broke out between Miles and JT, prompting a police response.
Bodycam footage featured in Worst Neighbor Ever shows an officer appearing to brush off the severity of what was happening, telling the two men they were acting like ’12-year-old girls’.
The Oakland Police Department cop shouts at them: “Grown ass men can’t listen to simple instructions.”
“Acting like 12-year-old girls, both of you guys,” he adds as he orders JT to get into the back of his car.
While being taken away, JT made a disturbing statement, telling officers that ‘I’m gonna kill him next time’.
“Guess what guys, I’ll be right back,” he tells the cops. “I’m gonna kill [Miles] next time.”
JT was then arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats. For the Armstead family, it appeared the long-running harassment might finally be over. Instead, he was released 48 hours later.
The family said they were never told he had been let out. Civil rights attorney Adante Pointer, who appears in the documentary, said JT was on ‘the highest level of supervised probation’ at the time of the February 2020 arrest and should not have been released.
That probation had begun in 2012 and was due to continue until 2022.
By May 2020, JT carried out the threat and fatally shot Miles while Armstead was doing yard work outside his East Oakland home. He was 44.
Melina was pregnant with their first child together when Miles was killed. Their daughter was born two months later. Miles was also survived by three children from his first marriage.
In July 2024, a jury found JT guilty of first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of a firearm by a felon with priors. He was sentenced later that year to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 28 years and eight months.
The case also sparked a civil lawsuit, and Oakland and Alameda County later agreed to pay $2.4 million to Armstead’s widow and family.
All episodes of Worst Neighbor Ever are now streaming on Netflix.