Target parking spot dispute turns deadly in Savannah

Savannah police say the shooting happened Sunday afternoon around 4 p.m. after an argument over a parking space. When officers arrived, they found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

Family members and co-workers have identified the victim as Matthew Traywick, a young father of three.

“I mean, it’s just a parking spot,” said shopper Jonathan Fox. “There’s definitely enough here… God forbid that that was today.”

Other shoppers said they were especially disturbed to learn the argument reportedly began near a handicapped parking space.

“I’m sad, especially when I realized that it happened in a handicapped space on the side of the building that I come up and down the ramp to come through here,” said shopper Knowles Hamrick.

Hamrick added that the situation was difficult to comprehend. “All the handicap spaces are on this side, and if somebody was going to argue over one, that’s what they would be arguing about.”

Police arrested 30-year-old Tyler Edward Linn at the scene. Investigators say the two men did not know each other prior to the encounter. Authorities later confirmed Linn previously served eight years in the U.S. Army and had been stationed at Hunter Army Airfield.

When returning to the shopping center Monday, no additional patrol cars or officers were visible in the area. Still, many shoppers said the incident has left them shaken.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson released a statement over the weekend, calling the shooting “needless” and “unnecessary gun violence.”

The investigation remains ongoing as the community mourns the loss of Traywick and continues to grapple with how a routine errand ended in tragedy.