Man arrested for allegedly shooting ‘Storage Wars’ son in Lake Havasu, Arizona
Police have arrested a suspect who allegedly shot the 22-year-old son of Storage Wars" stars Dan and Laura Dotson following a verbal altercation in Arizona early Sunday.
Garrett Wilder, 21, “exchanged words” with shooting victim Garrett Dotson outside a residence in Lake Havasu City before he allegedly fired a single shot from a pistol while driving away in a vehicle, police said Wednesday.
The bullet struck Dotson in the abdomen, causing him to be airlifted to a trauma center in Las Vegas for emergency surgery, police and his parents said.
"I’m way grateful there’s been an arrest,” Dan told The News in a phone interview Wednesday. “My son walked a couple of steps yesterday. They took him out of the ICU. He did a couple laps and then threw up, so at least we know all that works.”
In a separate interview on Monday, Laura gave a harrowing account of how a doctor in Arizona used his bare hands to reach inside her son’s chest and keep his heart pumping during the helicopter ride to UMC Trauma Center.
“He was bleeding internally. The bullet ruptured his vena cava. He was filling with blood,” Laura told The News.
She said witnesses told the family that the shooting appeared to be “targeted” because the alleged gunman yelled something at her son before opening fire.
Police said witness leads led them to arrest Wilder on Tuesday at his residence on Winterhaven Drive.
Detectives who searched the home recovered a handgun and a single spent shell casing, the Lake Havasu City Police Department said.
Wilder is being charged with two counts of aggravated assault, drive-by shooting, misconduct involving weapons, disorderly conduct with a weapon and endangerment.
He was being held on a $1 million cash-only bond and transferred to the custody of the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
