Gary Wayne Skiles
Early last Wednesday morning, Chattanooga Police responded to a shots fired report on 6th Avenue and found a man who had been threatened earlier was now dead.
The victim, Jerry Couch, was found unresponsive inside an outbuilding near his residence, and was pronounced dead by Hamilton County EMS a little while later.
Around 15 minutes later, a detective arrived in order to investigate, and he learned the victim had been involved in an argument with his nephew Gary Wayne Skiles, 35, the previous day. This argument ended in Couch calling the police. He told them his nephew had threatened to shoot him with a black firearm before fleeing the scene. Police took out an affidavit for aggravated domestic assault about six hours before Couch was shot at his home.
The investigator saw the deceased lying on his bed, shirtless and with blood visible on the right side of his chest. There was evidence that indicated the shooter may have fired from outside the structure. Investigators also found multiple spent 9mm shell casings at the scene.
Later that morning, Skiles was arrested after he was found in the driver’s seat of a red pickup truck in Rossville. Police said he resisted arrest when they tried to get him out the vehicle, and they found a black 9mm handgun in the floor of the driver’s side.
When transported to the jail and questioned, police said he initially denied being on-scene when the shooting happened, and denied firing the gun. However, police said he was on-scene and shot into the ground to scare away a dog.
Skiles was arrested and charged with criminal homicide.