Dispute ends with attempted murder charge

By Wayne K. Roustan

An argument over a car repair that simmered over several months appeared to boil over into a shooting that has resulted in an attempted murder charge.

Ralph Hightower Jr., 45, of West Palm Beach, is accused of attacking neighbor Marcus Lewis Harris with a baseball bat and then firing a gun at him.

Harris, a mechanic, said it seemed to start when he first looked at Hightower’s Kia Optima as a courtesy and determined it might need a new engine. No cost was mentioned and Hightower declined the repair, Harris said.

About 9 a.m. on Jan. 17, Harris was outside fixing a neighbor’s car in the 1000 block of Henrietta Avenue when out of nowhere Hightower started yelling at him from down the street, Harris said Friday.

“He said, ‘ I’m gonna [expletive] you up. I’m gonna [expletive] you up,’ ” Harris said. “Thirty minutes later he comes at me with a bat.”

So Harris said he grabbed a metal pole and a garbage can to defend himself.

“When he saw the pole, he changed his mind and pulled the gun out,” Harris said. “He pointed the gun at me but when he lowered the gun and turned his head I took off.”

According to the arrest report, Hightower fired a shot that missed Harris then got in his Kia and drove off.

West Palm Beach police received a shot-spotter alert and a 911 call following the gunfire. Harris told arriving officers, “He was going to kill me.” An eyewitness also saw the shooting, the report stated.

Hightower was found and arrested Thursday on charges that include attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. He is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail without bond, records show.