Man Killed Co-Worker Sitting at Desk With Metal Bat–Police

A Florida man is accused of beating his co-worker at a car dealership to death with a metal bat.

Steve Tilbury, 26, of Leesburg, was arrested on November 23 at 8:45 a.m. He has been charged with battery and murder over the death of Charles G. Cummings, 50, who died of his injuries at the Halifax Health Medical Center.

Tilbury is currently at Volusia County Jail.

The attack took place at the Ritchey Autos car dealership on North Nova Road. Police spokesman Messod Bendayan told Newsweek officers believe the two men had been involved in an argument at their workplace the day before the attack.

Ritchey Autos is a chain of dealerships with three locations across Florida. It is not currently known how long Tilbury and Cummings had worked there, or what their roles at the company were.

Bendayan continued: "Officers responded to the automobile dealership soon after Volusia County emergency dispatchers received a call for assistance at 8:43 a.m. that morning, finding the suspect and victim at the scene.

"Tilbury was taken into custody at that time on two felony counts of aggravated battery.

"Witnesses told the Daytona Beach Police Department that Tilbury pulled up to a maintenance bay in his silver Chevy truck, grabbed a metal bat from the rea of the truck, and hit Cummings on the head with the bat while he was sitting at a desk.

"Fellow co-workers then subdued Tilbury and stripped him of the metal bat prior to first responders arriving on the scene."

Newsweek has contacted Daytona Beach Police Department for additional comment.

Crimegrade has given the Daytona Beach Metro area an overall crime rating of B, which indicates that it is one of the safer places to live.

Explaining the grade, the website wrote: "The B grade means the rate of crime is slightly lower than the average US metro area. Daytona Beach Metro is in the 64th percentile for safety, meaning 36% of metro areas are safer and 64% of metro areas are more dangerous."

Regarding violent crime the area has received a C, meaning violent crime is slightly higher than the average US metro area.

It added: "The rate of violent crime in the Daytona Beach metro area is 3.07 per 1,000 residents during a standard year.

"Your chance of being a victim of violent crime in the Daytona Beach metro area may be as high as 1 in 202 in the central neighborhoods, or as low as 1 in 490 in the southwest part of the metro area."