Man sentenced for shooting at ex-brother-in-law

ROYAL CITY — A Royal City man will be spending three months in jail for firing a shot at his former brother-in-law.

Francisco Deras Santillan, 38, of Royal City, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. Grant County Superior Court Judge David Estudillo followed a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Kevin McCrae and defense attorney Stephen Felice and sentenced Deras Santillan to three months in jail, with 12 months of community custody. Deras Santillan was initially charged with first-degree assault, but the charge was amended in a plea agreement between McCrae and Felice.

The sentence dates back to an incident on Aug. 5, when the Grant County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an assault involving a gun in the 12900 block of Road H Southwest in Royal City. The victim in the incident, identified as Deras Santillan’s ex-brother-in-law, told deputies Deras Santillan came up to him while he was at work and confronted him. Deras Santillan drove up to the man in his truck and told him to get in. The victim refused and Deras Santillan got out of his truck and confronted him with a pistol. The victim was able to arm himself with a shovel from his truck.

“(The victim) said that he attempted to swing the shovel at Deras Santillan and that is when he shot at him,” wrote a deputy. “He described the bullet going past his leg and into the ground.”

Deras Santillan got back into his truck and left the area. The victim turned over the spent shell casing to deputies. Deputies were advised Deras Santillan was living in the 6100 block of Frenchman Hills Road Southwest, but were not able to locate him. The next day the sheriff’s office received a report of a suspicious person in the 8400 block of Road G.5 Southwest. Deputies were advised by the victim from the incident on Aug. 5 that Deras Santillan was in the area of the suspicious person report.

Authorities responded to the area, but again could not contact Deras Santillan. About an hour-and-a-half later Deras Santillan called a deputy on his work cellphone and asked why he was being sought. He agreed to meet up with deputies and denied ever possessing a firearm or firing a shot at his former brother-in-law.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.