The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office arrested an Alachua man Tuesday night after deputies reported he hit his granddaughter with a gun multiple times.
Edward Emery Taylor, 78, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery, according to an arrest report.
At about 11 p.m., a deputy responded to a home located at 13220 NW State Road 235 after a report of a fight, according to the report.
Taylor’s granddaughter, 42-year-old Valerie Ann Harris, had been visiting at a house next door. She went back to the residence she shares with Taylor to use the phone and got into an argument with him, according to the report.
During the fight, she called Taylor names and said she had something for him. Taylor responded that he had something for her, too, and pulled out a loaded handgun from under a chair.
Harris tried to take the gun from him, but he hit her over the head with it several times, according to the report.
After the fight, Taylor told the deputy he figured he would rather hit her with the gun than shoot her with it, according to the report.
Deputies booked Taylor into the Alachua County Jail at about 5 a.m. Wednesday, where he remained in lieu of a $50,000 bond.
A version of this story ran on page 3 on 10/24/2013 under the headline "Man, 78, hits granddaughter, 42, with loaded handgun"
