Accused of beating a 71-year-old stranger with his own cane as he slept, a 54-year-old Cheyenne woman faces up to 10 years in prison.
The Laramie County Attorney’s Office has charged Gizelle Kellum with aggravated assault, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Her case reached the felony-level Laramie County District Court on Monday.
Cheyenne Police Department Officer Nathanial Lucero responded April 1 to a motel in Cheyenne on a report of an assault with a weapon.
Lucero met with James Jones, who is either 71 or 72.
A golf-ball-sized knot on Jones’ forehead was bleeding when Lucero got there, the evidentiary affidavit in the case alleges. Lucero said he also observed:
· A bruise on Jones’ chest which appeared to have been caused by a cane.
· A baseball-sized bruise on his lower left back.
· A completely skinned right shin from mid-shin to ankle.
· Skinned right and left elbows.
· Scratch marks on his right upper arm.
Wakeup Call
Jones told Lucero that he had been sleeping in his motel room before the attack. He thought he’d locked the door.
A woman later identified as Kellum entered the room without permission, the affidavit alleges, and woke him by bludgeoning him with his own cane.
Jones’ cane is made of varnished wood and is about 2.5 feet long and an inch thick.
When Lucero saw the cane, the affidavit says, it was broken roughly 1 foot up the shaft with exposed splinters.
Jones said the woman broke the cane against his body.
During the bludgeoning, another man appeared and pulled Kellum off Jones and out of the room to an unknown location, the affidavit says.
Reflection
Jones surveyed his injuries in the mirror, then called 911.
Medical personnel transported Jones to the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center via ambulance.
Jones said he was on blood thinners, the affidavit relates. Another officer met Jones at the hospital and photographed his injuries.
“It was later discovered that Kellum possibly has schizophrenia but may not have been diagnosed with it,” says the affidavit.
Kellum, who has been released on bond, did not respond to a message requesting comment by publication time.
“Jones, Kellum and (the man who intervened) had never met before and by all accounts the attack was unprovoked,” says the affidavit.
A Cheyenne Circuit Court judge issued an April 3 warrant for Kellum’s arrest.
A law enforcement agent arrested Kellum the next day, according to court documents.
Kellum lives in an apartment near where the attack happened, her case file says.
