CHEYENNE — A 27-year-old man accused of shooting another man and leaving him bleeding in a Cheyenne street after a blowup over a former girlfriend pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of attempted second-degree murder.
Adrian Maggos sat quietly with 11 other Laramie County Detention Center inmates waiting to make pleas in their cases, seemingly listening attentively to District Court Judge Nathaniel Hibben run through their cases.
He was clean-shaven with short, dark hair and was wearing the typical bright orange jail jumpsuit and orange Crocs. His legs were shackled together with a thin chain, which rattled softly as he shuffled to the front of the courtroom to give his plea.
He didn’t say much, answering Judge Hibben’s questions with either a short “yes sir” or “no sir.”
When asked how he pleaded to the charge for allegedly shooting the other man in the early morning hours of April 30 and eluding the Cheyenne Police Department during an eight-hour manhunt before finally turning himself in, Maggos quietly answered, “Not guilty, your honor.”
The judge then set an Oct. 6 trial date for Maggos, while his attorney informed Hibben that a motion to reduce his $250,000 cash-only bond would be filed in writing.
‘The Guy I Shot’
While Maggos didn’t say much during his Monday arraignment, he reportedly made some potentially incriminating statements to police after he was taken into custody, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in his case.
“How’s (the victim) doing?” Maggos asked an officer taking him to the detention center, the affidavit says.
“Who’s (the victim)?” the officer replied because he had “minimal knowledge of the case.
“The guy I shot,” said Maggos, 27.
That was the culmination of a convoluted series of events that ended on a central Cheyenne street a little before 4:15 a.m. April 30 with a man shot and bleeding while some witnesses gave medical attention and others fled the scene, Cheyenne Police Detective Jim Eddy wrote in the affidavit.
‘Point-Blank Range’
The victim suffered “life-threatening injuries due to a sustained gunshot wound that appeared to have been at or nearly at point-blank range,” Eddy wrote, relating information from staff at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, where the man was taken.
“The projectile (bullet) most likely entered (his) body between his sternum and left areola, striking (his) diaphragm, stomach, colon, and lower rib,” the affidavit continues. “The projectile exited (the man’s) left flank.”
Maggos reportedly fled the scene after the shooting, the affidavit says, but more than eight hours later at about 12:51 p.m., he returned to the house in the 100 block of East Third Avenue, which is the home of a relative where he also lived.
Shortly after returning, “Maggos telephoned law enforcement and advised he was surrendering,” Eddy wrote. “Officers contacted Maggos, arrested him and transported him to the CPD.”
It was on the way to the police station that Maggos asked about the shooting victim, the affidavit says.
Adrian Shot Me
When they arrived, Cheyenne police reported finding a man in the street in front of the house “bleeding profusely and appeared to have been shot,” the affidavit says.
The victim, who was still conscious and able to talk, told an officer who shot him.
“(He said) that Adrian Maggos shot him prior to being transported to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center via ambulance,” the affidavit says.
At the East Third Avenue scene, police interviewed four other people who were there or witnesses in some fashion at the time of the shooting, Eddy wrote.
There were two men and two women, with both women reportedly having a romantic tie to Maggos, according to the affidavit. One was an ex-girlfriend who had broken up with Maggos four days prior.
She showed up to the house in the early morning hours Thursday — driven by the victim — and argued with Maggos over an alleged sexual encounter with the other woman, the affidavit says.
While Maggos and his ex argued in the street, the victim got out of his car to defend the former girlfriend, and the confrontation turned physical, Eddy wrote.
At some point in text messages between them, the ex told Maggos that “she was coming to his residence to confront him,” the affidavit says. She “threatened that she would break the residence’s windows if he did not exit the house to talk with her.”
The victim drove her to Maggos’ house because they had been “hanging out” together and she needed a ride, Eddy wrote. When they got to the house, Maggos was outside and alone.
They Fought
“(The ex) exited the car and an argument ensued with Maggos on the west side of the home,” the affidavit says. “This argument escalated to the point Maggos ordered (her) to leave and threatened to hit her.”
That’s what prompted the other man to get out of the car and confront Maggos.
“(He) and Maggos argued, escalating in Maggos pushing (the man) to the ground,” the affidavit says. “While in proximity, (the ex girlfriend) verbally intervened, allowing (the other man) to return to his feet.”
But the two men began fighting again, pushing each other until Maggos was standing “physically over him when she heard a gunshot that caused her ears to ‘ring,’” the affidavit says.
The woman then started running, “and looked back toward the two men when she heard (the victim) say, ‘I’m sorry’ to Maggos,” Eddy wrote. “(She) then heard, but did not see, a second gunshot.
“Fearing for her life, (the ex) ran to a residence across the street and hid in a window well, eventually falling asleep.”
If convicted of attempted second-degree murder, Maggos could get between 20 years and life in prison.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
