D.S. Woodfill

The Arizona Republic

Police conducted a welfare check at Gary Sherrill%27s apartment after son was not returned to mother

Sherrill%27s odd behavior and threats prompted friends to call police on Christmas

Sherrill is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder in slaying of his son

PHOENIX -- The man accused in the brutal ax slaying of his 13-year-old son this week had been the subject of a 911 call on Christmas Day after his odd behavior and threats prompted friends to dial police, officials say.

"He was saying that somebody was going to get hurt," said Russ Hamilton, a witness to the earlier incident involving Gary Reagan Sherrill. "We knew that he just bought an assault rifle and we were worried that he was going to come over here and start shooting people."

Sherrill, 51, is being held in a Maricopa County, Ariz., jail on suspicion of first-degree murder in the slaying of his son, whose body was found in Sherrill's apartment on New Year's Eve after Sherrill failed to return the boy to his mother. A judge set Sherrill's bond at $1 million.

But days earlier, Hamilton said, Sherrill had pitched a bizarre fit in front of the Phoenix home Hamilton shares with one of Sherrill's closest friends. Sherrill, whose behavior friends and family say had become increasingly bizarre in recent days, was fixated on his close friend's girlfriend and the outburst was preceded by strange text messages, Hamilton said.

There was no telling what he was capable of because of recent odd behavior, Hamilton said, "and that's why we called the cops."

Steve Martos, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman, said police got the call at about 10 p.m. on Dec. 25 and confirmed the caller's statement that Sherrill was making threats and had two large sticks.

Police went looking for him, but "they never found him," said Martos.

Police took down the information but said Sherrill's alleged threats were vague and there wasn't enough information to file a police report.

Court records released Thursday give a clearer picture of what led up to police finding the boy's body.

The boy's mother called police at about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday and asked them to check in with Sherrill, who refused to answer the door of the apartment when she tried to retrieve her son from an overnight visit, according to court records released Thursday.

When police arrived at 4:30 pm., Sherrill told them that his son wasn't there. Sherrill eventually let officers into his apartment, and they found the boy's body in a bedroom with multiple wounds.

"The victim was obviously deceased and his blood was already drying," court documents said.

Sherrill told police that he killed his son because he thought his son was a demon, records say.

Gary Sherrill's brother, Andy, said Gary was mentally ill and would never have harmed his son had he been in his right mind.

Lynn Hatch, a friend of Gary Sherrill's, said he was totally shocked by the brutal killing.

By all appearances, Sherrill was a doting father who put his children ahead of his own wants and needs, Hatch said.

Hatch said he was not aware of any mental illness that Sherrill may have suffered and hadn't seen him acting strange.

"Never. Not once," he said.

Hatch said he last spoke to Sherrill about two months ago. Sherrill was once an auditor at a Las Vegas casino and painted homes and laid tile on the side.

Hatch said Sherrill eventually started painting and tiling full time, but after the housing market tanked in 2008, he was trying to get back into the gaming industry. Hatch said Sherrill told him he recently landed a job at a local casino.

"He was on top of the world — just was elated that he was back where he had some credibility and had regular income coming in," Hatch said. "That was my last conversation. He was just excited about his life."