LUBBOCK, Texas - Jarrod Charles Gauna, 23, of Lubbock, Texas, pleaded guilty this morning, before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings, to a federal firearm charge stemming from his shooting and injuring an individual during a drug transaction at a convenience store in Lubbock this spring. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.
Specifically, Gauna pleaded guilty to one count of using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and aiding and abetting. Judge Cummings ordered a presentence investigation report with a sentencing date to be set after the completion of that report. Gauna faces a maximum statutory penalty of not less than 10 years and up to life in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to documents filed in the case, during a methamphetamine trafficking crime on April 20, 2013, Gauna shot and injured an individual with a Sig Sauer 9mm semi-automatic pistol at the Stripes convenience store on 50th Street in Lubbock.
The investigation revealed that Gauna told an individual that he needed to get out of town because he’d shot someone who had stolen methamphetamine from him. Gauna told another individual that he was getting ready to sell one-eighth of an ounce of methamphetamine to individual when that individual grabbed the drugs and ran. Gauna said he fired at the individual and possibly hit him in the foot.
The investigation also revealed that Gauna and others had disposed of the firearm by burying it in cement, but in May 2013, investigators were able to retrieve the firearm from a bucket of cement and identified it as the one used in the shooting.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Lubbock Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Haag is in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
