Jurors on Monday convicted a man whose role in a drive-by shooting in southern Minnesota left one person dead, two others wounded and sent the victims’ bullet-ridden vehicle crashing into a home.
Cham Obang Oman, 30, of Austin, Minn., was found guilty in Mower County District Court of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with the gunfire in June 2023 that killed 25-year-old Gumdel Gilo of Austin and wounded two other people.
Oman drove the vehicle with co-defendants 20-year-old Jenup Stepen Chop and 25-year-old Manamany Omot Abella, both of Austin, as his passengers while Chop fired over 20 times at another vehicle. Chop also fired numerous rounds at a witness on a motorcycle, who pursued the vehicle containing Oman, Chop and Abella.
Before the shooting, Oman bought an extended magazine for Chop, who also was convicted of murder and sentenced on Feb. 28 to a term topping 37 years. Abella, of Stillwater, pleaded guilty to aiding an offender after the fact. His sentencing remains pending.
Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office prosecuted Oman, Chop, and Abella after a referral from the Mower County Attorney’s Office.
“The actions of Cham Oman and his accomplices are shocking and appalling, and my heart goes out to their victims,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement late Monday afternoon.
Officers arrived at the scene of the crash and found Gilo behind the wheel and dead. Another man was sitting on the ground near a tree and suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper arm. A woman across the street was shot in the abdomen while in her vehicle. Two other people in the vehicle were not hit by gunfire and left the scene.
