Man killed in dispute over chicken foot

A Florida man has been charged with manslaughter after an investigation revealed that he beat his roommate to death following a disagreement about a chicken foot, Tampa police said.

James Jugo, 52, admitted in an interview with detectives on Saturday that he beat his roommate, 56-year-old Benjamin Calderon, with his fist after an argument about some stolen food, police said.



The fight started earlier, when Jugo took a chicken foot from a skillet as Calderon cooked in the apartment they shared. Calderon had recently become homeless after losing his security job, his brother Bolivar Calderon said. He had lived out of his car for a while and tried staying at a shelter. He ended up living with Jugo and a female roommate, the brother said.

Calderon was saving money to apply for a licence that would allow him to work as an armed security officer. "He had plans. He was setting goals for himself," Bolivar Calderon said. "No one deserves to die over a chicken foot," he added. Jugo was booked into jail and is being held on $15,000 bail.