Austin Shooter Accepts 37-Year Plea Deal for Deadly Drive-By

Austin, MN (KROC-AM News) -  The accused shooter in a deadly drive-by shooting that occurred in Austin last year today entered into a plea agreement that calls for a 450 month prison sentence.

19-year-old Jenup Chop and two other men were arrested in June of last year after Austin police responded to a report of a traffic crash involving a vehicle that had left the road and collided with a vacant house. The driver of the car, 25-year-old Gumdel Gilo, was pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds, while two of the passengers were transported to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester to be treated for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

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The criminal complaint filed against the alleged Chop also indicated that a man on a motorcycle witnessed the incident and followed an SUV that was seen leaving the crime scene at a high rate of speed. The motorcyclist told investigators that he stopped pursuing the vehicle after the occupants shot at him several times before entering eastbound I-90.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Chop today entered guilty pleas to second-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. The plea deal calls for a 297 month prison sentence for the murder conviction and a consecutive 153 month sentence for one of the attempted murder convictions for a total of 37 1/2 years behind bars.

One of the two other people charged in the case, 25-year-old Manamany Abella, earlier entered a guilty plea to a charge of aiding and abetting-accomplice after the fact and is awaiting sentencing. The case against the third defendant, Cham Oman, is still pending.