By Paul Garrod
Staff Writer
ALMENA TWP. – A 58-year-old Almena Township man is currently being held on a felony assault charge at the Van Buren County Jail with a bond set at $1 million, after he assaulted another man Friday, Sept. 29, in Almena Township, according to a press release from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office.
On Monday, Gregory Charles Miller was arraigned on the charge of assault with intent to murder. Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott said that Sheriff’s deputies were called at approximately 7:30 p.m. to investigate a report of an assault between neighbors in the 35000 block of County Road 652 in Almena Township. The victim, a 79-year-old Mattawan man, was out cutting firewood by himself on his own property when he was attacked by his 58-year-old neighbor.
An investigation determined that the attack was unprovoked. It was found that the 58-year-old man approached the 79-year-old on his property and began punching him in the head and face. The 79-year-old man was knocked down and attempted to crawl away from the suspect. He crawled under his tractor that he had in the woods with him, however, the suspect drug him back and continued to punch him multiple times. The victim repeatedly tried to crawl away from the suspect but was unable to. During the assault, the suspect told the victim that he was going to kill him and all his family. The victim began to lose consciousness from the assault and the suspect left him lying in the woods.
During an interview with the suspect, he told authorities that he has a long-standing dislike for his neighbor and was mad at him for cutting firewood close to the property line. He admitted to assaulting the victim and told deputies numerous times that he did intend on killing the victim and would be going back to kill him when he’s released.
The 79-year-old victim sustained multiple minor injuries and was treated and released from the local hospital.
Lock this looser up and throw away the key …
Manual labor 12 hrs . A day. 7 days a week for his life .