Florida Man Sentenced to More Than Seven Years in Federal Prison for Shooting Incident
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge William Jung has sentenced Gabriel Galvan (32, Sarasota) to seven years and two months in federal prison for possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon. The court also ordered Galvan to forfeit the firearm and ammunition used in the offense.
Galvan had pleaded guilty on April 27, 2021.
According to court documents, on February 10, 2020, Galvan was standing in the middle of the street in a Sarasota neighborhood, blocking traffic. When a driver blew his horn and gestured to Galvan to move out of the road, Galvan pulled a gun from his back pocket and fired two shots. The car drove off and Galvan fled the area.
Officers from the Sarasota Police Department then responded to the area, made contact with Galvan, and located the firearm hidden underneath an air conditioner, as well as two spent shell casings.
Galvan later confessed to possessing and firing the firearm. Further, a DNA analysis comparing Galvan’s DNA to a sample taken from the firearm concluded it was 700 billion times more likely that the sample came from Galvan than anyone else. At the time of the shooting, Galvan had several previous felony convictions and therefore was and is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Sarasota Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charlie D. Connally.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
