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One of two remaining suspects in the June 2023 shooting death of Gumdel Negate Gilo, has now pleaded guilty in the case.

According to a plea agreement entered into Mower County District Court Friday morning, Jenup Stepen Chop, 19, will plead guilty to murder in the second degree-drive by shooting, attempted murder in the first degree-drive by shooting and attempted murder in the first degree-drive by shooting.

According to Friday’s petition, both the defense and prosecution agreed to 37 and a half years in prison breaking down to 297 months for the murder charge and 210 and 153 months respectively for the last two counts.

The 153 month sentence would run consecutive to the previous two sentences with the 210 month sentence running concurrently.

The agreement will also require Chop to provide “sufficient factual basis” behind each of the three accounts.

As laid out in the agreement, the account should in part include that: “On June 9, 2023, in the city of Austin, Mower county, Minnesota, Defendant, while in a motor vehicle, intentionally and recklessly fired a firearm into an occupied motor vehicle causing the death of Gumdel Gilo. In addition, while intending to cause the death of an occupant of the motor vehicle, defendant intentionally fired a firearm into the occupied motor vehicle (a substantial step towards the crime of Murder in the 1st Degree-Drive-by Shooting) and caused gunshot wound injuries to two other occupants of that motor vehicle, namely Isaiah Johnson and Shelissa Bentzin.”

On the prosecution side of the plea agreement, the state will withdraw its motion of an aggravated sentence and dismiss the remaining counts including first degree murder and use of a dangerous weapon in a drive-by shooting.

A date for Chop’s official sentencing has not been entered.

Chop’s decision to plead guilty follows the guilty plea of Manamany Omot Abella, who agreed to plead guilty in April of this year to a single count of felony aiding an offender – accomplice after the fact. 

He will be sentenced on April 3.

This recent development leaves just one more suspect — Cham Obang Oman — who ​​has been charged with five counts of aiding and abetting including aiding and abetting first and second degree murder and two counts of aiding and abetting attempted murder and the use of a dangerous weapon.

A motion hearing for Oman is scheduled for Jan. 28, 2025 with a jury trial scheduled for Feb. 18.

Gilo was killed the night of June 9, when the car he and two others were riding in were allegedly targeted by the trio on Fourth Street Northwest. When officers arrived, they found Gilo dead in the driver’s seat. 

A second man was found sitting on the boulevard by a tree with a gunshot wound to his upper arm, and a woman had been shot in the abdomen. Police determined that these two people had also been in the vehicle at the time of the shooting and had exited the car after it crashed.