A Covington dad charged in a shots fired incident that led to a Piqua school lockdown last fall was sentenced Monday in a Miami County courtroom to two years of community control.
Joshua Gambill, 35, and his 15-year-old son were charged after what police described as a family dispute that included a report of shots fired near Piqua Central Intermediate School. No one was injured.
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Joshua Gambill was accused of several charges before pleading guilty to one felony count of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle.
Gambill went to the Piqua neighborhood Oct. 3 because he was concerned about the well-being of a relative who has developmental disabilities, defense lawyer Rob Long told Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Gee.
The relative was with a man Gambill believed was armed and dangerous, the attorney said.
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Long said Gambill, who was not the person who fired the shotgun, now realizes he should have called police and should never have had a loaded shotgun in his vehicle.
Gambill told Gee he wanted to apologize to the court and others “for bad choices” he made that day. He asked “for an opportunity to prove myself.”
Gee sentenced Gambill to community control with conditions including a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew unless he is working and to have no contact with the man who was with his relative at the time of the incident.
“Don’t make any more bad choices,” Gee told Gambill.
Charges against the teen were dealt with in county Juvenile Court, where he was sentenced to probation.
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