Orrville man charged with shooting neighbor over dog

Published 9:27 pm Wednesday, August 16, 2017

An 18-year-old from Orrville arrested for allegedly shooting his neighbor over a dog had his bond raised Monday during an arraignment hearing.

Jarred Tower was initially being held at the Dallas County Jail on a $15,000 bond, but District Judge Robert Armstrong increased his bond to $100,000. Jared Tower turned himself in at the jail last week on assault and theft charges.

Captain Mike Granthum with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department said Tower was wanted for shooting his neighbor, Jessie Cater, in the back with a shotgun on Aug. 8. Granthum said the incident involved Cater’s dog, which was missing.

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“This was the second or third time that he has come home and his dog is missing. He would always find the dog in the vicinity of the Tower residence,” Granthum said. “So he would go look for it, and he would always find it. It was always tied to a tree. It’s not like the dog broke its leash and left on its own.”

Granthum said Cater had never seen Tower take the dog, but the dog was always found on the property, including one time with a rifle propped up next to the tree the dog was tied to.

“It was like an intimidation type thing,” Granthum said.

When Cater’s dog went missing on Aug. 8, he went to the Tower residence and asked about his dog. Granthum said Tower denied seeing the dog. After hearing the dog bark, Granthum said Cater told Tower he was going to call the police.

“He said that when Mr. Tower was standing in the doorway of his house. Mr. Tower pulled out a handgun and started shooting at him. Thank God he wasn’t hit. He just opened fire and fired at least three times at him,” Granthum said. “Mr. Cater did have a weapon with him. He pulls his weapon out and also fires, and nobody was hit.”

Granthum said Cater started to go back home, and Tower came outside with a shotgun and fired it, striking Cater in the back with what Granthum believed to be birdshot. Cater was able to get away from Tower and get to the hospital, where he was treated.

“He knows Mr. Tower. Mr. Cater is a bus driver. He made the comment that he’s known that boy since he was in elementary school,” Granthum said. “He’s taken him back and forth to school and never had any type of problem with him or anything and wasn’t expecting a problem this time.”

Granthum said Tower is also accused of shooting into houses in the area and stealing from people.

He said several community members voiced their concerns during Tower’s arraignment hearing.

“Several of them showed up for court and voiced their opinion to the judge, and along with Michael Jackson and the sheriff’s offices, asked to increase his bond,” Granthum said. “The judge has been dealing with this guy for a long time, and now he’s being held under a $100,000 bond.”

Granthum said Cater was able to get his dog back.

Tower’s mother, Roberta Tower, was also arrested in the case. She was charged with hindering prosecution.

“We told his mother several weeks ago that he had a warrant on him. We made her aware, we made other family members aware because we had information they were hiding this guy out,” Granthum said. “They were hiding him out and preventing law enforcement from apprehending him.”

A preliminary hearing for Jarred Tower has been scheduled for Sept. 5 at 1:30 p.m.