PRESCOTT MAN SHOTS PROCESS SERVER

Prescott police arrested a man Saturday on charges including attempted second-degree murder after a process server who posted papers at the man’s home told police the man shot him in the back as he walked back to his vehicle.

An officer booked Larry Stewart, 57, of Prescott into the Yavapai County Jail on charges of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and three counts of firing a weapon in city limits.

Bob Palmer of Palmer Investigations said on Saturday his employee was serving Stewart with a civil summons and complaint. “He wouldn’t come out of the house. When you’d walk up to the house he’d close the drapes and wouldn’t answer the door,” Palmer said. “We tried to serve him four times before.”

Since Stewart had previously refused to open the door, the court had granted an alternate means of service to post the papers on the front gate and mail them, Palmer said.

The server told police and Palmer that he taped the paperwork to the locked front gate and was walking back to his vehicle when Stewart stepped out of his home and shot him with a handgun, Palmer said. The server made it back to his vehicle and called 911.

The victim was shot once in the lower right side of his abdomen and was taken to Yavapai Regional Medical Center for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries, said Lt. Andy Reinhardt,Prescott Police Departmentspokesman.

“After we responded to the scene, officers called Stewart, and he came out of his residence within 10 minutes and was arrested,” Reinhardt said. “Stewart refused to talk to officers after his arrest.”

Reinhardt said SWAT was not called out for the incident.

Palmer said a police detective came by his office Monday morning to get a copy of the paperwork that had been taped to the gate, because it was found ripped up at the scene.