Cincinnati tattoo artist gunned down outside business after an argument over money
By Karin Johnson
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AMELIA, Ohio (WLWT) — The victim in Sunday morning’s deadly shooting outside Stay Gold tattoo shop in Batavia Township has been identified as the owner of the business, 42-year-old Brian Wilson.
Michael Guilfoyle Jr., 33, of Amelia, has been charged with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery.
The Clermont County Sheriff’s Office said the communication center received a 911 open line call from the area of 1792 State Road 125 in Batavia Township just before 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. Dispatchers did not have any direct communication with the caller; however, they were able to hear a verbal dispute over money, followed by gunshots.
In the radio traffic, a dispatcher can be heard relaying what she was hearing to responding officers.
“There’s a man yelling, ‘Give me the money. I’m going to shoot. Give me the money,'” the dispatcher said. “There’s another man in the background saying that he doesn’t have $2,500 dollars on him.”
Moments later, she relayed that shots had been fired.
Investigators said the first officer arrived on the scene and located Wilson lying unresponsive in the westbound lanes of SR-125, just east of the SR-132 intersection. He died at the scene.
Guilfoyle was also at the scene, investigators said. They said he admitted he was involved in a verbal dispute with Wilson over money and confessed to shooting Wilson.
According to court documents, Guilfoyle told an officer he shot Wilson “17 times because he owed him money and it was someone he thought was a friend.”
Investigators have not said how many times Wilson was shot.
A woman who showed up at the scene told WLWT she knew Wilson. She asked not to be identified, but said aside from being a local business owner, he was also a father to a young child.
“He was a good guy. He would work with anybody. I have other children that went to him and got tattoos, and they didn’t have enough money, and he was like, ‘It’s fine, we’ll do a payment plan. He was always upbeat, funny. Ya know, he was always a good person. He never tried to hurt anybody. He tried to do everybody fair,” the woman said.
Guilfoyle is scheduled to be arraigned in Clermont County Municipal Court Monday morning.
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