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EASTPOINTE — At the sentencing for one of three people involved in a 2024 drive-by shooting, the judge called the incident “beyond absurd.”
Tyler Fistler, 22 — one of the three people who were charged in relation to a drive-by shooting that took place in June 2024 in Eastpointe — was sentenced Oct. 2 in the 16th Circuit Court in Mount Clemens. The judge sentenced Fistler to a mandatory two years in prison for felony firearm and then a minimum of 38 months to a maximum of 10 years for a count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. He must serve the two years for felony firearm first, and then the sentence for assault will begin. All other charges to which he pleaded no contest have sentences that run concurrently to those two charges.
At about 1:10 a.m. June 25, 2024, Eastpointe police were called to a home in the 16000 block of Forest Avenue after receiving reports of an “assault with intent to murder.”
When officers arrived, they learned that the homeowner had been in a conflict with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. The suspect, identified by authorities as Fistler, allegedly drove to the residence, fired several shots into the house, and then fled the scene. Several people, including six children, were inside at the time, but no one was hurt.
Investigators with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office determined that Fistler was likely heading back to his residence in Americana Estates in Casco Township. Deputies from both St. Clair and Macomb counties responded, along with special response teams from St. Clair County and Port Huron, as well as Richmond police.
Authorities said deputies spotted Fistler entering his home with his father, Derek Morris. Fistler was reportedly armed, and when the men noticed deputies nearby, they went inside and barricaded themselves.
Eastpointe police secured a search warrant for the residence. A woman who had been with the men remained outside and spoke with officers while police attempted, unsuccessfully, to negotiate their surrender.
Law enforcement then deployed gas cartridges, after which both men gave themselves up without incident. No one was injured, and multiple pieces of evidence were collected from the home.
In addition to Fistler and his father, his grandmother, Jaraldine Morris, was also charged in the incident.
Fistler was charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder; one count of using computers to commit a crime; one count of tampering with evidence; two counts of discharging a firearm from a vehicle; one count of carrying a concealed weapon; one count of felony firearm; one count of malicious use of telecommunications services and two counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder or by strangulation.
According to court records, Fistler pleaded no contest at a hearing May 21; the two counts of assault with intent to murder and the count of malicious use of telecommunications services were dismissed. The records indicate that under a Cobbs agreement, he could expect to be sentenced to the bottom third of the sentencing guidelines. He was scheduled to be sentenced July 8; however, court records show additional charges were pending, so it was adjourned to Aug. 11, then again to Sept. 25. At the Sept. 25 sentencing, it was adjourned again to Oct. 2.
At Fistler’s sentencing, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Diane Druzinski said the incident “consumed an enormous amount of resources.”
“This was a set of circumstances that, for lack of a better word, consumed an enormous amount of resources between the harebrained idea, the son, father and mother or grandmother,” she said. “And to think in any way, shape or form that driving by and shooting up a house was going to solve any problems is beyond absurd, frankly.”
Druzinski said she was glad nobody was injured in the incident.
“Thank goodness nobody was injured or killed. It was a horrible idea, horrible plan and not the way we resolve disputes and feelings and emotions in a civilized society,” she said.
Fistler’s attorney, Mariell Lehman, said she had advised her client to stand mute during the sentencing.
“Mr. Fistler is very nervous, but also, this is a no-contest plea, so I’ve advised him not to make a statement,” she said.
In July, Derek Morris, 52, was sentenced to a minimum of 38 months in prison for two charges of conspiracy to assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, his earliest release date is Aug. 24, 2027.
Derek Morris had pleaded no contest to the charges and to charges of accessory after the fact to a felony, lying to a peace officer in a violent crime investigation, and malicious use of telecommunications services. Two charges of conspiracy to assault with intent to murder and a charge of using computers to communicate with another to commit a crime were dismissed. Records indicated that there was a Cobbs agreement for the court to sentence Morris to the bottom third of the sentencing guidelines.
On the same day in July as Derek Morris’ sentencing, Jaraldine Morris, 82, was sentenced to three days in jail — with credit for three days already served — and 12 months of probation for lying to a police officer in a violent crime investigation. She pleaded no contest to the charge, and two other charges — tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact to a felony — were dismissed.
