Dubuque shooting victim released from hospital, now threatening people involved

Dubuque police say the victim of a shooting on Monday is out of the hospital despite an outstanding arrest warrant and is now threatening some of the people involved in that shooting.

Police say they had an arrest warrant for Geromey Gilliand, 20, before someone shot him Monday. That warrant stemmed from an alleged assault early Saturday morning.

KCRG-TV9 has learned from police that Gilliand is now using the social networking site Facebook to threaten some of the people involved in the shooting.

Moments after being shot on Monday, rescue crews rushed Gilliand to a local hospital. Soon after, he transferred him to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for further treatment

But to the surprise of Dubuque police, Gilliand was released Tuesday afternoon.

”Our belief was he would be held in the hospital for at least several days,” said Terry Tobin, the acting Dubuque Police Chief. And that is the reason, Tobin says, investigators had not told the hospital to hold Gilliand.

“We have to be more careful in transmitting and getting that information down right away. I think our perspective was that we were not expecting him to get out of the hospital less than 24 hours following the shooting,” Tobin said.

Tobin says investigators believe Gilliand is currently not in the area. Although they say he's using the internet to threaten people in Dubuque.

“On his Facebook status Gilliand made a reference to having been shot. Then went on to name the pawn shop owner's daughter. His message to her was it will be quote your father and boyfriend next to get shot, let's see if they survive.  That status has since been removed,” Tobin said.

“Because it's on facebook as opposed to being sent a letter or being communicated face to face that really does not, from our perspective make it any less important,” Tobin added.

Tobin says the Facebook threat doesn't directly name the shooter, but releasing that man's name would put him in danger.

If you have any information about where Geromey Gilliand might be, contact Dubuque Police.

Katie Wiedemann, KCRG-TV