A local man recently paroled from prison was arrested late Tuesday after allegedly trying to run over his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend and another teen with a pickup.
Alexander George Gilliana, 21, was taken into custody by Hot Springs police shortly after 11 p.m. and charged with a felony count of aggravated assault, punishable by up to six years in prison. He remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $2,500 bond and is set to appear March 10 in Garland County District Court.
Gilliana had pleaded guilty Dec. 16, 2014, in Garland County Circuit Court to a felony count of possession of a gun on school property after a shotgun was found in his vehicle on the Lake Hamilton School campus on Feb. 10, 2014, following a road range incident earlier that day. Gilliana was sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended, but was apparently out on parole at the time of Tuesday night's incident.
According to the affidavit, around 11 p.m., Gilliana was driving his grandfather's Dodge pickup and attempted to run over his ex-girlfriend and her male friend, 19, in a parking lot at the corner of Garland and Summer streets.
Gilliana had reportedly been texting and calling the victim trying to get her to meet him. She told police she finally agreed to meet him "hoping that he would quit bothering her." The two of them met in the parking lot and he reportedly got upset with her and tried to force her into the pickup.
The victim's friend grabbed her and tried to keep Gilliana from pulling her into the pickup. Both the victim and her friend started yelling for help and other people came over to the lot. At that point, Gilliana allegedly got in the pickup and put it in reverse as both victims were standing behind it.
Gilliana started backing up, spinning gravel, and both victims had to jump out of the way to keep from being run over. They moved to the opposite side of the victim's vehicle, a gold Ford Taurus, and at that point Gilliana put the pickup in drive and lunged forward toward the Taurus as if he was going to ram it.
As more people began to gather in the lot, Gilliana finally drove off headed south on Summer and then west onto Albert Pike. Both the victims told police they had feared for their lives during the incident.
HSPD Officer West located the suspect's pickup traveling south on Bayles Street at a high rate of speed. As he was trying to catch up to the pickup, the suspect suddenly wrecked at the intersection of Aviation and McLeod streets and was taken into custody without further incident.
According to reports of the Feb. 10 school incident, around 2:30 p.m. Garland County sheriff's Deputy Richard Huffman was dispatched to the campus regarding a vehicle in the lot that was involved in a "road rage" incident earlier in the day and the driver being "very disorderly."
Huffman made contact with Gilliana and asked him why he was at the school, and he stated he was there to pick up his girlfriend. Huffman asked about the earlier incident and Gilliana stated he pulled in front of a vehicle and was driving slow and the occupants of the other vehicle got mad.
He said he pulled into the parking lot of the McDonald's on Airport Road to let his passengers out, and the others followed him and reportedly threatened to "kick his a - -" if he did it again.
He said the other vehicle left and he followed them "to let them know they can't talk to him like that." He followed the vehicle to New Horizons, the Lake Hamilton alternative school, and then left, he said.
Gilliana gave consent to search his vehicle, a white 2001 Jeep, and told the deputies he had a shotgun in the vehicle. A 12-gauge shotgun with four rounds in the barrel was found under the back seat along with two boxes of 12-gauge rounds and four knives, so he was taken into custody.
Following his arrest on the gun possession charge, Gilliana was arrested again on Oct. 20, 2014, after he allegedly ran over another man, 44, in his vehicle on the victim's property in the 200 block of Browning Drive shortly after 6 p.m. that day. The victim was reportedly trying to get Gilliana to leave his property when the incident occurred.
Gilliana was taken into custody about an hour later and charged with second-degree battery, punishable by up to six years in prison. That charge is still pending against Gilliana in circuit court.
Local on 02/26/2015