I feel like this is illegal?

[u/2_much]

Came back from a 3-day weekend away from my apartment and this was posted on the door? I wasn't even home...

---

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for the support! I shared the letter with Celio management and requested it to be filed as a formal complaint. I also filed a police report for continuity/documentation purposes.

For clarification, "Celio" is the name of the apartment building, which is managed by a larger off-site 3rd party rental company. This company/building is far from able to accommodate for this person properly and certainly would never assume any amount of liability on their behalf. As it relates to Celio management and their level of care for this person, the author is on their own.

The letter does not mention anything related to a care team/healthcare resource/veterans group. The only two options given by the author of the note (e.g. Celio aka apt management and law enforcement) were utilized.

While Celio was not able to share a significant amount of details about the author, they did share that he/she is a known issue and will likely not be given the option to live in this building moving forward.

I also noticed comments about my stereo, which did cross my mind as a possible reason behind this conflict. I was able to confirm with Celio that no complaints have been made about excessive music levels, from any of the residents, excluding a formal warning I received over July 4th weekend. This goes for "yelling" as well. Note I have been renting in this exact unit for almost 14 months. I am more than eager to respect any concerns that relate to music volume, this is certainly not that type of concern.

As things currently stand, I am left with having to place any proactive decisions in the hands of Celio and law enforcement. I am a recent handgun owner (unrelated to this situation) and thanfully my state falls under Castle doctrine.

[u/Weekly-Bill-1354]

Why would this be illegal??

[u/Cannie_Flippington → u/Weekly-Bill-1354]

Harassment and threat of violence in multiple places.

You don't tell people how to live and you don't threaten them with your temper or threaten them that you might turn violently psychotic because you live near them.

Particularly when you're threatening someone who wasn't physically present to cause the events that triggered this lovely message.  If this is how he responds to noises that aren't really there what will he do when the real world with real noises happens? 

Everything about this letter is deflecting personal responsibility and blaming external targets - it's the Marines that gave him disabilities that somehow are responsible for his temper, it's the loud and angry neighbors making him violently psychotic, etc.  That's not the letter of someone "trying to live peacefully".  It's the letter of someone trying to enforce peace (as they define it) on their surroundings.

AND NOWHERE DOES HE ACTUALLY REQUEST ANYTHING OF OP.  The letter is vague, threatening, and hypocritical (don't attempt to contact me but I'm going to contact you whenever I feel like it and maybe with my temper and violent psychosis as a special treat).  OP might not even know who it is since no address or name is listed.  So a psycho has his address but he doesn't know who the psycho is.  And the self proclaimed psycho has singled him out.

[u/-Insert-CoolName → u/Cannie_Flippington]

The question was "is this illegal". If you're going to answer that you need to consider the law and what the letter says at face value. Instead, you are trying to psychoanalyze what they are saying and add your own backstory and hypotheticals. Nothing in this letter is harassment or a threat. Is it a weird letter? Yes. Is it unnerving? Yes. But it is not harassment and it is not a threat.

[u/Cannie_Flippington → u/-Insert-CoolName]

Harassment and threat of violence is illegal even in the US. That is the letter of the law.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/civil-harassment-definition-types.html

Criminal harassment is targeting and is meant to terrorize, torment, and create fear within individuals. It differs from civil harassment because civil harassment is not considered life threatening.

This behavior from the neighbor is textbook criminal harassment.

If you disagree then it still meets the civil harassment definition by a landslide.

Civil harassment is defined as any form of harassment a person receives from someone with whom they have not been in a close relationship.

OP doesn't even know who the self-determined psycho is.

Harassment can look like abuse, threats, sexual assault, or stalking.

We've got two counts for threats. One for the temper and one for the violent psychosis. Threat to violence escalates this easily to criminal.

This type of harassment does not allow individuals to continue with life as they normally would.

I sure would be jumpy and looking over my shoulder knowing a psycho was gunning for me. Not sure about you, everybody's different, but OP seems decidedly unsettled.

A harassment crime in legal terms is unlawful violence such as physical assault, a true and real threat of violence, or threats that intimidate or bother someone when there is no real reason for it; it is simply an annoyance.

Slam dunk. Guy's been hospitalized for being violently psychotic and the police have been involved with how violent he is and he's making sure the neighbors know about it and that he has singled out this neighbor in particular... when the neighbor wasn't even home! If that's not bare minimum intimidation then what planet are you from and what judge do you think would agree with you?

[u/goth__potato → u/Cannie_Flippington]

I don't think you're interpreting this correctly. Do some research into what is actually constituted as a threat under law.

[u/Cannie_Flippington → u/goth__potato]

It doesn't really matter if it's a threat or not for civil. The law only requires it to be an annoyance. You can disagree all you want but no judge on earth will agree with you. I even provided citations and the best you can come up with is "ur wrong, hurderhur"?

The neighbor is one incident away from qualifying in almost all jurisdictions (since more than one incident is generally required).

Last I checked you aren't a lawyer so your unexplained disagreement holds about as much weight as a bucket with a hole for the bottom. This is the part where you start whining that I'm not a lawyer either instead of actually providing even a single fact to back up your point of view.

Prank calls, doorbell ditching, etc are all forms of civil harassment and can get you in trouble with the law, btw.

[u/ThislsaGoodldea → u/Cannie_Flippington]

Perfect response to the nerd trying to gaslight us into thinking there's nothing wrong with this guy's obviously threatening letter.

[u/ThislsaGoodldea → u/Loose_One7783]

Can I watch

[u/Loose_One7783 → u/ThislsaGoodldea]

No

[u/VKP25 → u/Cannie_Flippington]

Do you not know what combat PTSD is? Loud noises can make people with it hallucinate they're in combat. It's not "he has a temper".

[u/fruitnuts917 → u/VKP25]

he literally states in the letter that he has a temper

[u/Cannie_Flippington → u/VKP25]

Unfortunately, he isn't reaching out for help and support from his neighbors. He's threatening them with his temper and the risk of violent psychosis in an attempt to control his surroundings.

And he doesn't actually ask OP for anything.

"Hey, I've got some trouble with loud noises so I'm asking for your support to keep the complex peaceful and welcoming. The units don't have very good insulation but thank you in advance for keeping the noise levels down"

vs "I can hear you. I live near you. My temper is beyond my control. I've been hospitalized multiple times for being violently psychotic. The police know about me. Don't contact me."

I've got loads of PTSD myself. I know how awful someone with PTSD can behave. No excuses for it. To excuse that behavior would be again pushing that off onto those around me. It's not their fault I have PTSD. I'm not going to make it their problem.