Staff dispute at car dealership ends with man fatally beaten with bat, Florida cops say

A staff dispute at a Florida car dealership turned deadly when one man grabbed a metal bat and beat a co-worker sitting at a desk, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department.

The victim, identified as 50-year-old Charles G. Cummings, died Nov. 30, a week after being admitted to Halifax Health Medical Center, police said in a news release.

Steve Tilbury, 26, of Leesburg, has been charged with murder in the case, officials said.

Tilbury and Cummings were both employed at Ritchey Autos when the deadly attack occurred around 8:43 a.m. on Nov. 23, officials said. Daytona Beach is about 90 miles southeast of uptown Jacksonville.

Investigators said they believe a dispute between the two men began a day earlier. The cause of the argument was not revealed.

“Witnesses told DBPD that Tilbury pulled up to a maintenance bay in his silver Chevy truck, grabbed a metal bat from the rear of the truck and hit Cummings on the head with the bat while he was sitting at a desk,” officials said.

“Fellow co-workers then subdued Tilbury and stripped him of the metal bat prior to first responders arriving on scene. ... Cummings was taken from the scene by paramedics to HHMC as a trauma alert.”

Tilbury was arrested at the scene, officials said, and initially charged with two felony counts of aggravated battery.

The charge was changed to second-degree murder after Cummings died from his injuries, officials said in a Dec. 1 update.

“Tilbury has been at Volusia County Jail since his initial arrest on the aggravated battery charge,” police said.

This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 8:01 AM with the headline "Staff dispute at car dealership ends with man fatally beaten with bat, Florida cops say."