Sheridan man accused of shooting at woman and threatening man who drove her home

A Sheridan man is accused of firing a shotgun at his wife and pointing it at a man who was driving her home. He faces a prison sentence of twenty years.

Oscar Gaona, 43, is scheduled to be arraigned in Sheridan County District Court on November 7.

An evidentiary affidavit from Sheridan County Sheriff’s Deputy Shaun Pushcar says deputies responded to a Sheridan County home on Oct. 9 at 9:41 p.m. when a bystander called to report hearing a shot and seeing a woman running and screaming. to shoot me.”

The woman also called 911 and told a 911 dispatcher that her husband, Gaona, had a shotgun pointed at her and the gun went off as she ran, the document said.

Gaona and the woman had “separated” but were still living together at the time of this incident, Pushcar wrote.

The woman later told investigators that she arrived at her home that day with a man who Pushcar called a “male friend” of hers. Gaona approached the driver’s side door and confronted the man. The woman exited the vehicle and the male friend backed out of the driveway to leave, the document said.

Gaona ran up the stairs into the apartment and grabbed a shotgun that was in the closet near the front door, according to the woman’s interview.

Gaona held the gun above the second-floor balcony railing and pointed the gun at the man’s vehicle as he drove away, Pushcar wrote. The woman started to run away; she saw the barrel of the shotgun pointed at her. As she walked along the side of the apartment complex, she heard the gunfire, she told investigators.

The hunt

The affidavit then describes a pursuit.

As she ran around the block, the woman saw Gaona’s truck coming toward her, the affidavit said.

She told investigators she was afraid he would shoot her, so she tried to hide in a burial mound.

When his truck was gone, she ran back to the apartment, where a 911 dispatcher called her back — after she had previously called 911, the document said.

She locked the door and told the dispatcher that Gaona was trying to enter the apartment.

Pushcar and other deputies arrived.

One deputy read Gaona his Miranda rights and spoke to him. From Gaona’s interview, the deputy “essentially concluded” that Gaona had indeed recovered a shotgun, but claimed he did not intend for it to go off from the balcony where he had been standing, the document said.

After the gun went off, Gaona hid it and three shotgun shells in two separate sheds on the property, the affidavit alleges.

With Gaona’s help, officers later found the shotgun and three grenades — two unused and one expended, the document said. Pushcar called this discovery consistent with the bystanders’ and the woman’s reports of a single shot fired.

A firefighter who arrived on the scene shortly before arriving also reported hearing a single gunshot, the document said.

Without incident

Officers arrested Gaona and transported him to the Sheridan County Detention Center “without incident,” the document said.

Gaona’s case was filed in Sheridan County District Court on October 28.

On the same date, his wife filed for divorce.

Her divorce complaint says they have been married for nine years, since August 1, 2015, and that they were married in Story, Wyoming.

The woman did not immediately respond to a voicemail request for comment.

Clair McFarland can be reached at [email protected].