Sheriff: Gills Denies He Shot Ex-Girlfriend On Meridian

JOLIET, IL - The 39-year-old man who was taken into custody on Thursday 930 miles south of Joliet has been interviewed by Will County Sheriff's detectives, but Christopher Gills denied responsibility for the October 28 near-fatal shooting of Stephanie Evans in unincorporated Joliet.

Gills was arrested in Houma, Louisiana, on a Will County arrest warrant charging Gills with attempted murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault and home invasion. Gills is accused of sneaking into the home of his ex-girlfriend on Meridian Drive assaulting her and then shooting her twice. Stephanie Evans was shot once in the face and once in the abdomen. Her attacker wore a mask to conceal his identity, but Will County police say the attacker lost his ski mask inside the victim's house, apparently during the struggle.

That item of evidence was later sent out for forensics testing and laboratory test results determined that the ski mask contained the DNA sample of Christopher Gills, Will County Sheriff's Police announced on Thursday night.

"In this particular one, we were just waiting for information to come back from the criminal lab to confirm some results. Our detectives did a great job and evidence (technicians) were able to gather the items up in order to get a good DNA sample," said Dan Jungles, Will County Chief Deputy of Special Operations and Investigations.

Jungles told Joliet Patch that the victim and Gills previously dated but the two split up about six months ago. The site of the near-deadly attack was 2411 Meridian Drive; a ranch house located about five homes from Caton Farm Road, very near Grand Prairie Elementary School.

"He was a person of interest early on, but he lived so far away that we had to verify a lot of information," Jungles said of Gills. "He even resided at that address previously, at least six months back."

After Gills was taken into custody on Thursday, Will County detectives sat down and interviewed him at the police station in Houma, Louisiana, Jungles said.

RELATED:Will County Solves Attempted Murder On Meridian Drive

"He would not implicate himself in the crime. He did speak with our detectives, but he did not implicate himself in committing the attack," Jungles explained.

During the last Saturday of October, Evans fell to the floor in her bedroom and was bleeding profusely after suffering gunshot wounds to her face and to her abdomen. The intruder apparently darted out the door, minus his ski mask that he lost during the attack. He was long gone before the police were notified and before the ambulance pulled up to the driveway on Meridian Drive.

"We know for certain he came by car," Jungles said of Gills.

Jungles said Will County Sheriff's police determined that Gills did not stick around the Joliet area after the attack and that he has stayed away from Joliet over these past six weeks.

"He's been back there ever since the attack," he said, referring to Houma, Louisiana.

The arrest of Gills was a huge relief to Evans and to many others.

Jungles said that the victim, Stephanie Evans, made a remarkable recovery after suffering gunshot wounds that could have killed her. She has been out of the hospital for several weeks now and continues to make strides in her recovery.

"She had lost a lot of blood and she was real lucky," he said.

This whole time has been obviously traumatic for Evans, who knew full well that her assailant was still on the loose. Given that Will County police surmised from the get-go that this was a targeted attack, Evans didn't know if the attacker would find her again.

"She was in fear for her life," Jungles said. "She has not been back to the house since the incident."

He has been in contact her in recent days to keep her apprised of the critical developments surrounding Christopher Gills.

"She was relieved to know he was taken into custody," he said.

Now, it's only a matter of time before Gills gets returned to the Will County Jail and has his criminal case proceed at the Will County Courthouse. He will likely be extradited within the next several days.

Meanwhile, some Joliet Patch readers who live in the Crystal Lawns area reached out and asked whether there may be other accomplices still roaming around.

That does not appear to be the case, Jungles stressed.

"I don't anticipate other arrests at this point. We don't have any information that leads us to believe there is another perpetrator involved," he said confidently.

Christopher Gills

Main image via Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak, images of Christopher Gills via Will County, Houma Police Departments