Man accused of shooting band colleague

JAY, Okla. — The Delaware County district attorney’s office on Thursday charged a 27-year-old manager of a band with shooting a member of the band.

Jesse D. Gritts was charged with shooting 20-year-old Dustin L. Trimble with an intent to kill Tuesday morning in a field along South 540 Road in the Leach-Kenwood area of southern Delaware County.

Sheriff’s deputies and emergency medical workers who were called at 11 a.m. to the scene found Trimble bleeding from gunshot wounds in the cab of a tractor in the field. A probable-cause affidavit written by Capt. Ron Teel of the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department states that Trimble told deputies that Gritts shot him four or five times with a shotgun.

“He was bleeding from numerous places on his face and upper body,” Teel told the Globe.

Trimble was flown by medical helicopter to Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, Ark., where he underwent surgery and was placed in an intensive care unit. Teel said Trimble remained in stable condition Thursday at the hospital.

Gritts was arrested about an hour after the shooting at his home in neighboring Cherokee County, Okla. Both the shooting victim and the accused are from Tahlequah.

Teel told the Globe that Trimble and his father, Greg Trimble, were working in the field when Gritts came by and a confrontation took place over what Teel described as “business differences.”

Dustin Trimble told deputies that he tried to get Gritts to leave, but Gritts pulled out a shotgun and shot him while he was in the cab of the tractor, according to the affidavit. The affidavit states that Trimble said he then tried to run Gritts down with the tractor.

Teel wrote in the affidavit that he was informed by Cherokee County deputies when he arrived at Gritts’ home at 13429 N. 470 Road that the suspect had provided a different account of what happened as he was being taken into custody.

The affidavit does not state how Gritts’ account of the shooting varied from Trimble’s; Teel did not speak with Gritts because Gritts’ mother told him that an attorney, who was on his way to the scene, had advised her son not to speak with anyone.

The affidavit states that Teel did speak with Gritts’ wife, who told him that her husband was the manager of a band to which Trimble belonged. Teel wrote that the wife said the band had performed on Halloween, and Trimble had forgotten some of the lyrics of the songs. Carla Gritts also reportedly said that her husband intended to talk to Trimble about it and try to persuade him to take some lessons.

The affidavit does not state if that information was offered as an explanation of what took place between the two men in the field.

According to court documents, a shotgun was found on the tailgate of a pickup truck at Gritts’ home, along with a two-way radio in the bed of the truck. The radio reportedly was on and tuned to a Delaware County emergency channel when Gritts was arrested.

Teel wrote that he was told that Gritts is a volunteer fireman. The Sheriff’s Department sought a second count against Gritts of possessing a police radio in the commission of a felony, but that charge has not been filed.

Gritts appeared before a judge Wednesday, and later posted a $25,000 bond and was released before any charge had been filed.