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Fatal struggle at Hervey City towing company described in new court document
HERVEY CITY — The last desperate moments of a 48-year-old shooting victim’s struggle with an armed man are outlined in detail in a police sworn affidavit.
The four-page document details a law enforcement account of towing company boss Gregory Hostetler’s losing battle with alleged assailant Tiimon X. Perry, 25, on the Hervey City lot shared by Greg’s towing and Recovery and Five Star Auto Sales, Inc.
The violent confrontation that would lead to charges of murder and aggravated battery began Monday after a woman called the firm and asked them to tow a Hyundai Santa Fe with a flat tire to the Hervey City lot.
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Macon County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Matthew Whetstone, who signed the affidavit, said Perry showed up in the early afternoon driving a Nissan Versa to change the tire. He asked to borrow a screwdriver, and later said he was leaving to get additional tools.
Authorities continue their investigation of a Monday afternoon shooting at a business in Hervey City.
Scott Perry
Hostetler’s 77-year-old father, who also works in the business, told Perry he owed $50 for the tow. He was told to either pay the fee or leave the keys for the Santa Fe, according to the affidavit. Whetstone said the father was concerned Perry would leave, then return later and fix the tire without paying the tow fee.
An argument began, and Hostetler towed the Hyundai to a secured portion of the lot to stop it from being moved, the affidavit said. As Perry and Hostetler argued in front of the business, Hostetler’s father ran into the office to tell other family members about what was happening.
Hostetler’s 18-year-old nephew, Kolby Sunderland, dashed outside to see his uncle in a physical battle with Perry inside the Nissan Versa, Whetstone said.
“Kolby advised that Gregory yelled at him that Tiimon had a gun and to help him,” Whetstone wrote in the affidavit.
“Kolby then entered the vehicle through the passenger door, climbing over Gregory, who was on top of Tiimon, and began striking Tiimon in an attempt to get him to drop the handgun.”
Both Hostetler and Perry then fell out of the vehicle as the struggle for control of the gun continued. Sunderland was described as hitting Perry in the head before Hostetler broke free, then rejoined the fray as his nephew yelled at him for more assistance.
Perry
“Kolby advised that as Gregory was attempting to re-engage, it was at that point Tiimon fires the handgun, striking Gregory in the face,” Whetstone said.
“Kolby states that after Gregory was shot, he realizes that Tiimon is now pointing the handgun at his face and so he grabs the handgun and attempts to move the handgun to the left. As he does so, Kolby said that Tiimon fires the handgun again, striking Kolby in the left shoulder.”
Although wounded, Sunderland continued the fight, slamming Perry's head into the ground until the suspect let go of the weapon and took off running. “Kolby said that he grabs the handgun and fires one round at Tiimon, striking him in the buttocks and groin area," Whetstone said.
The affidavit said Perry staggered on but didn’t get far, and the first arriving Mount Zion Police Department cops found him lying between two parked cars on the business lot.
Perry had recovered enough by Thursday afternoon to appear in Macon County Circuit Court, where he was arraigned on three alternate counts of murder. He also faces charges accusing him of aggravated battery with and the aggravated discharge of a gun, being an armed habitual criminal and being a felon in possession of a weapon.
Chief Public Defender Michelle Sanders argued that Perry should be granted pretrial release, saying the facts of the case did not necessarily paint him as the prime aggressor.
She said the situation appears to have escalated when Hostetler reached into Perry's vehicle. “So I think there is a little bit more to this than just Mr. Perry getting angry and grabbing a firearm and pulling it out," Sanders said, suggesting the possibility of a self-defense argument.
But State’s Attorney Scott Rueter said Perry's previous convictions for the aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and vehicular invasion, and these latest charges, made him too much of a danger to be released.
“If he is willing to conduct himself in this manner because he gets mad over a $50 tow, I suggest that is an extreme situation where members of the community are at risk because of his behavior," Rueter added.
Judge Lindsey Shelton agreed, ruling that Perry should remain held in custody as she could find “no condition or combination of conditions that mitigate that real and present threat.”
Perry is due back in court for a preliminary hearing May 29.
Counties with the most gun deaths
Counties With the Most Gun Deaths
Photo Credit: Prath / Shutterstock
Over the past few years, the U.S. has seen sharply increasing levels of violent crime. After two decades of decreases beginning in the mid-1990s, incidents have begun to rise again. Within the last two years, the trend has become especially pronounced. FBI data recently showed a 5.6% increase in violent crime from 2019 to 2020, even as rates of property crime continued to decline. In the same year, the murder rate rose by around 30%, one of the largest year-over-year increases on record.
Guns are closely tied to this trend in the U.S. The U.S. has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership of any country, and researchers have found the prevalence of guns to be associated with greater amounts of violent crime and gun deaths generally. Given these dynamics, it is unsurprising to see that gun-related deaths have spiked in recent years during the broader increase in violent crime.
Recent data from the CDC reveals how this trend has played out. In 2014, there were only 3.5 gun-related homicides per 100,000 population. By 2016, that figure increased to 4.6, and in 2020, it jumped to 6.2. Separately, gun-related suicides have also increased in recent years—from a low of 5.5 per 100,000 population in 2006 to 7.0 in 2020—but this increase has been more gradual.
The rates of gun related homicides _ suicides are rising 1
In total, 45,221 deaths in 2020 were gun-related, which is a 14% increase over the prior year and a 43% increase over a decade before. These gun-related deaths constitute a majority of both homicides and suicides. Over the past three years, more than three in four U.S. homicides (76.4%) involved a gun, while more than half of suicides (51.2%) were gun-related.
More than 75_ of homicides _ 50_ of suicides involve a gun 1
While the overall growth of gun-related deaths is a nationwide issue, some locations are more affected than others. Many of the states with the highest rates of gun-related deaths are states that also have the highest rates of gun ownership. These states include locations in the South and Mountain West, along with Alaska. Mississippi leads the nation in gun-related fatalities per 100,000 residents at 28.6, followed by neighboring Louisiana at 26.3 and Wyoming at 25.9. At the other end of the spectrum, Hawaii has the lowest rate of gun-related fatalities at 3.4 per 100,000 residents, followed by a group of Northeastern states including Massachusetts (3.7) and New Jersey (5.0). However, gun ownership is not a perfect predictor of gun deaths: for example, states like New Hampshire and Maine have relatively high levels of gun prevalence, but are also in the bottom 10 states for gun deaths per capita.
Mississippi _ Louisiana have the highest rates of gun related deaths 1
Gun-related deaths are also unevenly distributed at the local level. While some of the Southern and Western states with higher levels of gun fatalities do have counties with similarly high levels of gun deaths, many of the top counties are found in Rust Belt locations like Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Detroit. These more economically distressed locations may have greater levels of gun violence due to the relationship between factors like social mobility and income inequality and gun deaths.
The data used in this analysis is from the CDC’s WONDER Database. To identify the locations with the most gun deaths, researchers at BackgroundChecks.org calculated the rates of gun-related deaths per 100,000 residents in 2020. In the event of a tie, the location with the greater total number of gun-related deaths in 2020 was ranked higher. To provide additional context, researchers also calculated the proportion of all homicides and suicides that involve a gun, using data from 2018–2020.
Here are the counties with the most gun deaths.
Small _ midsize counties with the highest rates of gun deaths 1
15. DeKalb County, GA
Photo Credit: Christopher May / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 19.0Total gun-related deaths: 145Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: -15.2%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 87.1%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 57.3%
14. Hamilton County, OH
Photo Credit: Rudy Balasko / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 19.4Total gun-related deaths: 159Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +23.3%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 85.9%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 51.6%
13. Pima County, AZ
Photo Credit: RCole3 / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 19.5Total gun-related deaths: 207Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +1.5%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 69.4%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 60.7%
12. Cook County, IL
Photo Credit: Jonathan Siegel / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 20.4Total gun-related deaths: 1,040Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +45.7%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 87.2%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 33.5%
11. Fulton County, GA
Photo Credit: Luciano Mortula – LGM / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 21.4Total gun-related deaths: 231Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +29.1%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 83.1%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 51.1%
10. Oklahoma County, OK
Photo Credit: Nick Fox / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 23.1Total gun-related deaths: 186Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +0.5%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 79.0%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 58.2%
9. Cuyahoga County, OH
Photo Credit: The American Wanderer / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 24.3Total gun-related deaths: 298Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +29.6%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 82.1%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 48.6%
8. Milwaukee County, WI
Photo Credit: Paul Brady Photography / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 25.6Total gun-related deaths: 242Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +69.2%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 82.3%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 42.3%
7. Duval County, FL
Photo Credit: CHARLES MORRA / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 25.6Total gun-related deaths: 247Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +14.4%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 83.1%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 56.6%
6. Wayne County, MI
Photo Credit: Sergey Novikov / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 26.3Total gun-related deaths: 458Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +30.9%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 86.2%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 51.8%
5. St. Louis County, MO
Photo Credit: Rudy Balasko / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 26.4Total gun-related deaths: 262Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +15.9%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 90.8%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 51.9%
4. Jefferson County, KY
Photo Credit: Jonny Trego / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 31.0Total gun-related deaths: 238Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +65.3%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 89.2%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 53.0%
3. Marion County, IN
Photo Credit: Rudy Balasko / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 32.8Total gun-related deaths: 317Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +46.1%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 85.2%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 58.0%
2. Philadelphia County, PA
Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 34.1Total gun-related deaths: 538Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +46.6%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 86.8%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 38.1%
1. Shelby County, TN
Photo Credit: The Speedy Butterfly / Shutterstock
Total gun-related deaths per 100k: 40.6Total gun-related deaths: 380Change in gun-related deaths since 2019: +36.7%Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides: 91.5%Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides: 64.0%
Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid
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