Episode 8
S. Gaylord Hanks Assaulted--Son Charged
Jackson--S. Gaylord Hanks was shot in the face with a paint gun yesterday evening outside Finesse, a restaurant in downtown Jackson. Witnesses said Daniel Gaylord Hanks, Mr. Hanks’ son, shot at him as he emerged from the kitchen door at the back of the restaurant at approximately 9:00pm.
Witnesses said Mr. Hanks was dining at the restaurant with Ms. Tiffany Lovelace, who told police she is a political consultant, when a camera crew from the popular news show The Bitter Truth entered the dining room and began filming for an upcoming special on unique desserts. Apparently attempting to avoid the camera crew, Mr. Hanks leapt up from his seat and an employee of the restaurant ushered him into the kitchen.
An unidentified source said that Daniel Hanks had spent much of the evening behind the restaurant waiting for Ms. Miss Mospheiran, an employee of the restaurant, to exit at the end of her shift. "He was totally stalking her. She couldn’t even leave her home at night without being shot at by him. And he was out back, drinking beer and waiting for her to get off work for the evening so he could harass her some more. She was just about done for the night, and someone had told him she was about to come out the door, when suddenly out came Gaylord Hanks, and Bang! He got him right in the face." Police confirmed that Ms. Mospheiran had complained several times about Daniel Hanks’ alleged harassment, but they had been unable to make any arrest absent evidence of a crime being committed.
Members of the Ian Bretano High School Foreign Studies Club, who were doing some filming for a school project and walked into the alley just as the elder Mr. Hanks exited the restaurant, have turned their tape over to police as evidence. Officer 1 of the Jackson Police refused to confirm the rumor that additional tapes of other alleged acts of vandalism and harassment by the younger Mr. Hanks have also been given to police.
The elder Mr. Hanks, who has been in semi-retirement since the death of his daughter, paidhi-successor Deana Hanks, had returned to public attention with his recent condemnation of atevi influence on Mospheiran teens, broadcast last week on The Bitter Truth. His comments drew sharp criticism, and several demonstrations were held protesting his contention that so-called "atevi-head" teens were responsible for a recent upsurge in vandalism in Jackson. An unidentified source within the Jackson Police department said that police had suspected for some weeks that Daniel Hanks was the perpetrator of most of the recent acts of vandalism, and had been working to collect evidence before any arrest was made.
Daniel Hanks was charged with assault and two counts of resisting arrest, and released into the custody of his father.