Coroner: Heart condition was factor in Hester’s death

Published 8:53 pm Saturday, September 19, 2015

MOULTRIE — A Georgia Bureau of Investigation autopsy report showed that a Norman Park man killed on July 5 died of a combination of a gunshot wound and existing medical problems.

“It was a combination of his heart condition and a gunshot wound,” Colquitt County Coroner Verlyn Brock said of the death of John Hester Sr.

“It was attributed to both,” said Brock, who said he received a report on the autopsy early in the week.

The GBI’s medical examiners ruled that the manner of death was homicide, he said.

Hester was shot in the leg some time before midnight on the last night of the Fourth of July weekend.

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Investigators believe that Hester, 68, was fatally shot when he noticed activity at his son’s residence across the road from his 353 Hwy. 256 home outside Norman Park. They believe a group of seven teen-agers intended to rob John Hester Jr.’s residence, and his father was shot when he went to investigate the disturbance and confronted them armed with a shotgun.

Evidence showed that the elder Hester fired several shots.

Testimony in hearings held so far in the case indicated that one of the seven fired a single shot as they were fleeing. The handgun used in the slaying is thought to be one of 22 firearms stolen during a burglary earlier on July 5 from a residence in the 100 block of Lonnie Brookard Road in Norman Park.

During those hearings investigators have said that the bullet severed an artery. Bleeding profusely, Hester Sr. walked the 30 to 40 yards back to his house, where his wife called the Colquitt County 911 Center at about 11:56 p.m.

His son reportedly took off his belt and made a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

The injured man initially was taken to Colquitt Regional Medical Center and later transferred to Archbold Medical Hospital in Thomasville, where he died at about 10 a.m. on July 6.

Arrested 10 days after the shooting and charged with murder and criminal attempt to commit robbery were four Norman Park residents Tykerious Raheem “Grump” Jones, 17, Derrick Demond Phillips, 18, Adrian Lyryan Robinson, 19, and Brandon Quanterious “Brad” Wynn, 18, and three Moultrie residents, Christian Savion Glover, 18, Ty’Cameron La’Darius Hayes, 18, and I-Key Tumazs Pinkins, 18.

All except Robinson also are accused of the break-in of the Lonnie Brookard Road home whose owner was away on vacation at the time; they are charged with burglary in connection with the theft of the guns and electronics.

Eight of the weapons taken have been recovered.

Hester’s slaying was the sixth in the county in 2015 and was the third that occurred within a two-week period. Four of the six have occurred in Moultrie.

The body of Sylvester Ricky Hill, 58, was found at his residence in the 200 block of Arrowhead Lane on June 26 after he did not show up for work.

Hill, who was the other victim killed outside the city of Moultrie, died of a single gunshot wound, Brock said.

On June 21, 29-year-old Devin Devon Smith was fatally shot outside her apartment at Shy Manor, 821 Northside Drive.

Jamie Jermaine Stamper, 30, with whom Smith reportedly had a tumultuous relationship over the past several years, has been charged with murder in her death.

Eddie James Harvey, 51, of Doerun was found dead behind the wheel of a 2000 Cadillac Deville on the night of April 21 in front of a 319 Second St. N.W. residence.

Tony Harrison, 22, was shot on March 1 in what was described as a “shootout” at about 1:30 a.m. in the Sunset Plaza parking lot.

And on the night of Jan. 6, the body of 36-year-old Terrell Eugene Hawkins was found inside a 618 Third Ave. S.E., residence.