By Andrew Edwards
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
Top Photo: Drivers license photo of shooter Angelo Myles.
A Millbrook man faces up to 20 years in prison for a 2020 shooting that left his victim with ongoing medical issues. Ryan Fayles survived being shot six times. The Elmore county District Attorney’s office was hoping for an attempted murder conviction. A jury voted to find Angelo Myles guilty of the lesser included offense of Assault 1st degree.
The case involved a dispute which occurred on April 17, 2020, between the victim Fales and the shooter Myles, who are neighbors. The shooting occurred in the 4200 block of Oak Tree Road in Deatsville.
First reports said that Fales suffered from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen, but evidence later found that he was actually shot six times that day.
Fales was treated at the scene by Millbrook fire rescue personnel and transported to Baptist South Emergency Room in critical condition.
Myles was transported to the Millbrook Police Department where he was placed under arrest and charged with attempted murder.
The official court case hearing was held at the Elmore County 19th Judicial Court of Alabama on Thursday, August 19th and Friday August 20th where prosecutors attempted to sway the jury to charge Myles with attempted murder – a class A felony.
In opening arguments, defene attorney Tom Azar, jr. argued that the shooter Myles acted in self defense.
Video evidence from police cams on the scene showed Fales writhing on the ground in pain, as responders attempted to stop the bleeding from his wounds.
James Williams, who was a reserve officer for the Millbrook Police Department, was one of the first responders on the scene. He was also the first to testify Thursday morning.
“I got out of the car and saw the subject in the road, where I believe I saw blood all over the roadway. I then put on gloves and applied pressure to the gunshot wound. I noticed the gunshot wound had entered the front of his abdomen and exited the lower torso,” Williams said. “He kept saying that he was in pain and that he was hurt, so I was trying to keep him from going into a state of shock until the paramedics arrived.”
A member of the Millbrook Fire Department, Kelly Gordon Jr., was the second to testify. He helped to drive the ambulance from the scene to the Baptist South Emergency Room.
“Soon as we arrived, I took control of the patient. I immediately saw the abdominal wound and exit wound on the left side. My primary attention went to the patient, but there was still a lot of activity on the scene. The scene was unsecure, so we not only had to take care of the patient, but we had to worry about our safety as well. At that point my primary objective was to get the patient into the ambulance so that we’d have some security. I did not do a full examination of the patient at that time, because of the scene being unsafe,” Gordon Jr. said.
Gordon Jr. explained that once medical personnel loaded Fales into the ambulance, paramedics noticed four other wounds in the genital area, in addition to the abdominal wound.
“They were not bleeding nearly as severely. However, I considered them [the wounds] to be critical and life threatening when we arrived on the scene and when we dropped him off at the hospital,” Gordon Jr. said.
The victim Fales took the stand, testifying for just under an hour, about his memory from that day in 2020.
Fales explained that he was sitting on his front porch eating an apple when he noticed that his friend, Robert Taylor (who would testify later) was with Myles on Myles’ front porch.
Fales, who said he has been clean from drugs for the past two and half years, testified that a week prior to the incident, he and Taylor had a conversation about getting (Taylor) off drugs as well.
“I told him, ‘We’re adults now and we’re God’s children. We can’t keep living for ourselves. We have responsibilities and family members to look over,’” Fales said.
Once Fales noticed Taylor with Myles, he admitted he was outraged.
“I just knew (Taylor) was over there doing drugs again,” Fales said.
Fales testified he got up from his front porch and began to walk across his yard as he yelled at Taylor to get back over to his yard. Fales said that he never even looked at Myles, and was staring straight at Taylor. He said his hands were in the air and that he had no weapon on him at the time of the incident.
Video evidence recorded on a camera at the front of Fales’ house would later prove that his claims were correct.
Fales said as he moved closer to the street, Myles began to walk down his own driveway and began to yell “I’m going to kill you.”
“We’d been friends throughout the years, but we had some heated arguments. My goal was to de-escalate the situation, put my hands up and show him that I didn’t have a weapon,” Fales said.
Fales explained that since he was looking at Taylor, he never saw a weapon drawn. Once he reached the midway portion of the street, he was shot. Fales said he was about 10-15 yards away from Myles once shots were fired.
“I was shot six times. One time in the right quad, one time in the groin, a third time in my stomach (which missed his spine by less than an inch). Once I fell down, he shot me three more times and that’s what blew my stomach out,” Fales said.
After being shot, the situation became one of disorientation for Fales.
“I remember calling for my momma. There was a lot of pain, a lot of confusion. I remember trying to figure out why this just happened,” Fales said.
Taylor followed with a testimony of his own backing up Fales’ testimony.
“I was there to get some drugs – to buy some crack. I got some, hit it one time and then Ryan saw me over there and he tried to come over and get me,” Taylor testified.
Taylor said that he was behind Myles when the incident occurred, and after he saw him shoot Fales, Myles turned to him and said “Go check on your boy.” Taylor said that Myles did not go over to check on Fales, but rather left and went back to his home. Fales did say that Myles called the Millbrook Police Department and told them that he shot someone, but that he seemed rather unconcerned.
One witness who was on the scene, a close friend of Fales, testified on his behalf. She said that she knew both Fales and Myles, and that she occasionally picked groceries up for Myles since he didn’t have a car. Two days prior to the incident, she said that Myles told her that he “was going to shoot and kill him [Fales].”
“I was coming back home after spending the afternoon with some friends and I saw him [Fales] in the road with several neighbors around him. His shirt was ripped off and he was laying in the fetal position with blood running down his legs. He was in obvious pain,” the witness said.
Myles did not testify in his own defense. After the testimonies were completed, both sides had the opportunity to give a closing argument. Defense attorney Azar explained that he was not arguing if Myles shot Fales but rather if Myles fired the shots with the intent to kill. Azar said that if Myles had the intent to kill Fales, he would have shot him in the chest or above. He said, since they were so close, it wouldn’t have been that difficult for Myles to do, if he had intent to kill.
The two prosecutors on the case, Mandy Johnson and Josh Cochran, said six shots fired, three while Fales was on the ground, showed intent to kill.
“You can shoot at somebody one time and miss them and be charged with attempted murder. This guy [pointing at Myles] shot six times, and hit him six times. If he wasn’t trying to kill him, then what was he trying to do?” Cochran said.
The judge then briefed the jury, explaining the differences between attempted murder, assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree.
After hours of deliberation on Thursday and Friday, the jury found Myles to be guilty of assault in the first degree, which is an attempt to cause serious physical injury to another by means of a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Assistant District Attorney and prosecutor in the case Mandy Johnson spoke after the verdict was read by Judge Lewis.
“Assault in the first degree is still a very serious crime. The range of punishment is 2-20 years. On behalf of the victim, we will be asking for 20 years at sentencing. We feel like that’s the right thing to do. We are satisfied with the jury’s verdict – we certainly respect that,” Johnson said.
Sentencing for Myles will be Oct. 14 at 8:30 a.m. at the Elmore County Judicial Building.
Angelo Myles Convicted of Assault 1st Degree for April 17, 2020 Shooting on Oak Tree Road
By Andrew Edwards
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
A Millbrook man faces up to 20 years in prison for a 2020 shooting that left his victim with ongoing medical issues. Ryan Fayles survived being shot six times. The Elmore county District Attorney’s office was hoping for an attempted murder conviction. A jury voted to find Angelo Myles guilty of the lesser included offense of Assault 1st degree.
The case involved a dispute which occurred on April 17, 2020, between the victim Fales and the shooter Myles, who are neighbors. The shooting occurred in the 4200 block of Oak Tree Road in Deatsville.
First reports said that Fales suffered from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen, but evidence later found that he was actually shot six times that day.
Fales was treated at the scene by Millbrook fire rescue personnel and transported to Baptist South Emergency Room in critical condition.
Myles was transported to the Millbrook Police Department where he was placed under arrest and charged with attempted murder.
The official court case hearing was held at the Elmore County 19th Judicial Court of Alabama on Thursday, August 19th and Friday August 20th where prosecutors attempted to sway the jury to charge Myles with attempted murder – a class A felony.
In opening arguments, defene attorney Tom Azar, jr. argued that the shooter Myles acted in self defense.
Video evidence from police cams on the scene showed Fales writhing on the ground in pain, as responders attempted to stop the bleeding from his wounds.
James Williams, who was a reserve officer for the Millbrook Police Department, was one of the first responders on the scene. He was also the first to testify Thursday morning.
“I got out of the car and saw the subject in the road, where I believe I saw blood all over the roadway. I then put on gloves and applied pressure to the gunshot wound. I noticed the gunshot wound had entered the front of his abdomen and exited the lower torso,” Williams said. “He kept saying that he was in pain and that he was hurt, so I was trying to keep him from going into a state of shock until the paramedics arrived.”
A member of the Millbrook Fire Department, Kelly Gordon Jr., was the second to testify. He helped to drive the ambulance from the scene to the Baptist South Emergency Room.
“Soon as we arrived, I took control of the patient. I immediately saw the abdominal wound and exit wound on the left side. My primary attention went to the patient, but there was still a lot of activity on the scene. The scene was unsecure, so we not only had to take care of the patient, but we had to worry about our safety as well. At that point my primary objective was to get the patient into the ambulance so that we’d have some security. I did not do a full examination of the patient at that time, because of the scene being unsafe,” Gordon Jr. said.
Gordon Jr. explained that once medical personnel loaded Fales into the ambulance, paramedics noticed four other wounds in the genital area, in addition to the abdominal wound.
“They were not bleeding nearly as severely. However, I considered them [the wounds] to be critical and life threatening when we arrived on the scene and when we dropped him off at the hospital,” Gordon Jr. said.
The victim Fales took the stand, testifying for just under an hour, about his memory from that day in 2020.
Fales explained that he was sitting on his front porch eating an apple when he noticed that his friend, Robert Taylor (who would testify later) was with Myles on Myles’ front porch.
Fales, who said he has been clean from drugs for the past two and half years, testified that a week prior to the incident, he and Taylor had a conversation about getting (Taylor) off drugs as well.
“I told him, ‘We’re adults now and we’re God’s children. We can’t keep living for ourselves. We have responsibilities and family members to look over,’” Fales said.
Once Fales noticed Taylor with Myles, he admitted he was outraged.
“I just knew (Taylor) was over there doing drugs again,” Fales said.
Fales testified he got up from his front porch and began to walk across his yard as he yelled at Taylor to get back over to his yard. Fales said that he never even looked at Myles, and was staring straight at Taylor. He said his hands were in the air and that he had no weapon on him at the time of the incident.
Video evidence recorded on a camera at the front of Fales’ house would later prove that his claims were correct.
Fales said as he moved closer to the street, Myles began to walk down his own driveway and began to yell “I’m going to kill you.”
“We’d been friends throughout the years, but we had some heated arguments. My goal was to de-escalate the situation, put my hands up and show him that I didn’t have a weapon,” Fales said.
Fales explained that since he was looking at Taylor, he never saw a weapon drawn. Once he reached the midway portion of the street, he was shot. Fales said he was about 10-15 yards away from Myles once shots were fired.
“I was shot six times. One time in the right quad, one time in the groin, a third time in my stomach (which missed his spine by less than an inch). Once I fell down, he shot me three more times and that’s what blew my stomach out,” Fales said.
After being shot, the situation became one of disorientation for Fales.
“I remember calling for my momma. There was a lot of pain, a lot of confusion. I remember trying to figure out why this just happened,” Fales said.
Taylor followed with a testimony of his own backing up Fales’ testimony.
“I was there to get some drugs – to buy some crack. I got some, hit it one time and then Ryan saw me over there and he tried to come over and get me,” Taylor testified.
Taylor said that he was behind Myles when the incident occurred, and after he saw him shoot Fales, Myles turned to him and said “Go check on your boy.” Taylor said that Myles did not go over to check on Fales, but rather left and went back to his home. Fales did say that Myles called the Millbrook Police Department and told them that he shot someone, but that he seemed rather unconcerned.
One witness who was on the scene, a close friend of Fales, testified on his behalf. She said that she knew both Fales and Myles, and that she occasionally picked groceries up for Myles since he didn’t have a car. Two days prior to the incident, she said that Myles told her that he “was going to shoot and kill him [Fales].”
“I was coming back home after spending the afternoon with some friends and I saw him [Fales] in the road with several neighbors around him. His shirt was ripped off and he was laying in the fetal position with blood running down his legs. He was in obvious pain,” the witness said.
Myles did not testify in his own defense. After the testimonies were completed, both sides had the opportunity to give a closing argument. Defense attorney Azar explained that he was not arguing if Myles shot Fales but rather if Myles fired the shots with the intent to kill. Azar said that if Myles had the intent to kill Fales, he would have shot him in the chest or above. He said, since they were so close, it wouldn’t have been that difficult for Myles to do, if he had intent to kill.
The two prosecutors on the case, Mandy Johnson and Josh Cochran, said six shots fired, three while Fales was on the ground, showed intent to kill.
“You can shoot at somebody one time and miss them and be charged with attempted murder. This guy [pointing at Myles] shot six times, and hit him six times. If he wasn’t trying to kill him, then what was he trying to do?” Cochran said.
The judge then briefed the jury, explaining the differences between attempted murder, assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree.
After hours of deliberation on Thursday and Friday, the jury found Myles to be guilty of assault in the first degree, which is an attempt to cause serious physical injury to another by means of a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Assistant District Attorney and prosecutor in the case Mandy Johnson spoke after the verdict was read by Judge Lewis.
“Assault in the first degree is still a very serious crime. The range of punishment is 2-20 years. On behalf of the victim, we will be asking for 20 years at sentencing. We feel like that’s the right thing to do. We are satisfied with the jury’s verdict – we certainly respect that,” Johnson said.
Sentencing for Myles will be Oct. 14 at 8:30 a.m. at the Elmore County Judicial Building.
