UPDATE: Gunshot victim guilty of two charges
Published 10:16 am Friday, October 17, 2014
An 22-year-old Austin man who was shot in the face in March and was convicted of two felony charges earlier this week.
Gilo Gilo pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, and he pleaded guilty to a separate third-degree sale of narcotics charge for selling heroin to informants in August.
The initial incident happened in March. According to a court complaint, Gilo and his housemate had guests over at the 800 block of Ninth Avenue Southwest the morning of March 31. He was in his room with a 16-year-old when he brought out a handgun and began playing with it. Gilo and the girl were allegedly kissing when he held the gun up to the right side of his face. When the girl tried to push it away, the gun fired, according to the complaint.
The girl told others in the house about the shooting and several friends took Gilo to Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin. Police were called to the residence shortly before noon and interviewed several people.
Law enforcement found a .45 caliber shell casing, 56 grams of marijuana, a 2014 membership receipt and pass card for the Cedar Valley Conservation Club, gun targets, counterfeit money, and some Winchester .45 ammo in Gilo’s room.
Gilo told police on April 9 that he was smoking marijuana in his room when the 16-year-old allegedly appeared in his doorway and fired the gun at him. He told police the gun wasn’t his and denied he had a membership at the CVCC. Gilo couldn’t explain the blood stains on the girl’s clothing when police interviewed her, according to the complaint.
CVCC employees confirmed to police that Gilo had bought his membership in January. In addition, a forensic pathologist determined Gilo’s injury was an “angled near-contact gunshot,” contrary to what Gilo said.
Gilo was previously convicted for third degree assault in 2009. The narcotics charge stemmed from an August incident where he made a deal with informants to sell them heroin at a Taco John’s, according to a court complaint. Gilo allegedly sold .39 grams of heroin on Aug. 13 and .74 grams of heroin at the 500 block of Eighth Street Northeast on Aug. 14.
Sentencing for both cases is set for December.