Bluffton woman shot Hilton Head doctor before killing herself, police confirm
A Tuesday double-shooting that left a Hilton Head Island doctor wounded and his ex-girlfriend dead appears to have been an attempted murder-suicide, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said Thursday morning
A neighbor witnessed the shooting at about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday on Widewater Road outside Dr. Gatson Perez’s Spanish Wells Plantation home, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Bob Bromage previously said.
“Based on the crime scene, information gathered, eye-witness testimony and the preliminary autopsy results, it would indicate (Jennifer Rudemyer) was shooting at Perez and turned the gun on herself,” Bromage told The Island Packet.
Perez and Rudemyer had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for eight years, according to a police report.
Perez, 60, was shot four to five times and was flown to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah for treatment Tuesday, according to a Sheriff’s Office release. He was in stable condition, according to friends and family.
Rudemyer, 39, died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound consistent with suicide, deputy coroner David Ott said Wednesday. The final autopsy report is still pending the toxicology results.
Bromage said the investigation is ongoing, including an attempt to determine where the handgun used in the shooting came from. That gun was recovered at the scene.
Perez and Rudemyer are believed to be the only parties involved in the shooting, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Perez and Rudemyer were part of a hearing relating to a restraining order just hours before the shooting at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Bluffton Magistrate Court, court administrator Stephanie Garst said Wednesday. The judge granted Perez a restraining order from Rudemyer.
Perez is a licensed family practice physician and owns Global Family Medicine in Bluffton. He is also the medical director of Hospice Care of South Carolina and the home health care company Amedisys, according to his LinkedIn page.
Rudemyer was the owner of Coastal Clutter Queen, a company that organizes homes and businesses, according to her Facebook page. She also taught at Hilton Head Middle School in 2003 and 2004 and at H.E. McCracken Middle School from 2008 to 2017, according to Beaufort County School District spokesman Jim Foster.
This story was originally published September 6, 2018 at 12:00 PM.