Peggy Hinkle being held without bond in Sarasota County Jail
A 53-year-old Sarasota woman has been charged with two counts of Attempted Murder following a shooting in the 1100 block of Sylvan Drive in Sarasota and a second shooting at the nearby Wicked Cantina restaurant on North Tamiami Trail, the Sarasota Police Department has reported.
The incidents appear to be related to a divorce involving the woman and one of the victims, based on research undertaken by The Sarasota News Leader.
Peggy Hinkle, of 1124 Sylvan Drive, is listed as unemployed in her Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division record, the News Leader found. She was being held without bond, that record noted, with an arraignment set for July 21.
Officers responded to Hinkle’s home about 5:45 p.m. on June 7 after learning that a person barricaded inside was making suicidal threats, the Probable Cause Affidavit says.
After their arrival, the affidavit notes, they learned Hinkle’s name. They “contained the scene on Sylvan and established communication with Peggy,” the affidavit continues.
“After further communication,” the document says, Hinkle “came out of the house willingly and officers placed [her] into custody without incident.” That happened about 7:45 p.m., a Police Department news release points out.
Patrol personnel then transported her to the Sarasota Police Department, where she was interviewed, the affidavit adds.
She formally was arrested just after 11 p.m., the affidavit shows.
While Hinkle was barricaded inside the house, the affidavit continues, an individual arrived at the Police Department “in a damaged white Jeep Grand Cherokee,” the affidavit notes. A second victim in the vehicle was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital for treatment of an injury to the back of his head, the affidavit says.
The Police Department news release says that both victims, who are adult males, went to Hinkle’s address so one of them could “gather his belongings.” The second male accompanied the other, the release explains, so the first male would not be alone inside the house.
As they walked up to the residence, the affidavit points out, the two men saw Hinkle’s Range Rover parked inside the garage. However, the affidavit says, the victim who wanted to retrieve his personal items had told Hinkle not to be there.
After that victim went upstairs “to check on some of his personal belongings,” the affidavit continues, the other man walked into the office within the house, where he spotted a firearm on an ottoman. Then Hinkle walked into that room and pointed a gun at him, the affidavit adds. That person began to take photos and video of Hinkle as she held the gun on him, the affidavit points out. That male showed a Police Department detective the images, at the detective’s request, the affidavit says.
One photo showed Hinkle at the doorway of the office, pointing a gun at the male. The video showed her raising the gun with her right hand and pointing it at the victim, the affidavit continues. She pulled the trigger, the affidavit says, but the gun malfunctioned. That male was able to wrestle the gun away from her, at which point the video stopped, the affidavit notes.
Both victims ran from the house and climbed into the Jeep, the affidavit adds. Hinkle followed them outside and fired a shot at the Jeep, one victim told the detective. As the males were trying to drive away, the affidavit says, one victim spotted Hinkle following them in her Range Rover. She pursued them to the parking lot of the Wicked Cantina restaurant, the affidavit notes, where the vehicles collided and Hinkle began shooting at one of the victims from her Range Rover, the affidavit points out.
The Wicked Cantina is located at 1603 N. Tamiami Trail, its website says.
The victims were able to drive away from the restaurant, the affidavit says, but the driver told the detective he was unsure at what point Hinkle stopped following him. After the driver realized that the other victim was bleeding from his head, the affidavit continues, the driver said he wanted to take that victim to the hospital, but the victim told the driver to head instead to the Police Department.
Other details from public records
Hinkle’s Sylvan Drive home is located on Whitaker Bayou, a map shows; it is west of North Tamiami Trail.
The Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s record for the address lists Peggy Hinkle as one of the owners. The 10,074-square-foot parcel had a market value of $3,050,600 in 2022, the Property Appraiser’s Office record says. Hinkle and a second person purchased it for $625,000 in November 2015, the property record notes.
Zillow estimates the value of the residence at $4,491,300.
A woman on a Nextdoor thread about the June 7 incident pointed out that the home is in the Indian Beach-Sapphire Shores community. That woman also wrote that Hinkle was going through a “nasty divorce.”
The News Leader was able to confirm through court records that a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage was filed on April 18, although the records are protected from viewing, in accord with state law. The last filing in the docket, dated June 7, is an order on a motion for “exclusive use of the marital home.”
Further, records of the Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller’s Office show that Peggy Hinkle was the petitioner in a domestic violence case that dates to May 15.
While Hinkle was barricaded inside the house, the Police Department had multiple units on the scene, its news release says. “The SWAT Team, Crisis Negotiation Unit, Emergency Response Team, Drone Unit, Patrol Division, and Criminal Investigations Division responded to the area,” the release adds. Further, it notes, “The Sarasota Police Department’s Marine Patrol Unit was staged in the water behind the home, and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office flew Air 1 [one of its helicopters] over the scene. “Sarasota County Emergency Services also responded,” the release notes.
“The Sarasota Police Department Crisis Negotiation Unit was crucial in speaking with Hinkle and convincing her to surrender peacefully,” the release points out.
This case remains an active and ongoing investigation, the release adds. Anyone with information about it is asked to call Detective Steven Fergus at 941-263-6059, leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 941-366-TIPS, or going online at www.sarasotacrimestoppers.com.