July 13 – CASS COUNTY – William Headbird of Cass Lake was sentenced to 234 months in prison for second degree murder in connection with the
July 2021 Diego Gasca shot dead.
According to a statement from Cass County District Attorney Ben Lindstrom, Headbird, 47, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges of inadmissible possession of a firearm and second-degree murder.
According to the criminal complaint, at 2:45 a.m. on July 5, 2021, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a man being shot near Basswood Avenue and Fourth Street NW in the town of Cass Lake.
When deputies arrived at the scene, they found a male victim, later identified as Diego Gasca, 34, of Cass Lake, lying in the street with what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds to his chest. Gasca was taken to Cass Lake Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the documents.
During its investigation, law enforcement learned that a large gathering had taken place at 323 and 412 Fourth St. NW in Cass Lake, which began on the afternoon of July 4, 2021 and ended was extended into the wee hours of the morning until the shooting incident. . Witnesses at the scene identified one of the men walking into the party scene as Headbird, the complaint continued.
“Shortly after the altercation, witnesses saw a car stop at the intersection of Basswood Avenue and Fourth Street NW, and multiple shots were fired from the vehicle,” the complaint states. “The vehicle then accelerated east on Fourth Street NW. Witnesses report that the victim tripped and fell shortly after the shots were fired, and they realized he had been hit by gunfire. .”
After locating the vehicle and matching its description to Headbird’s vehicle, collecting DNA, and interviewing witnesses, it was determined that Headbird was the shooter.
Headbird was charged with second degree murder on July 5, 2022 in Cass County. He was sentenced on Wednesday to 234 months, or 19.5 years in prison.
This lawsuit was made possible through the investigative efforts of the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, the Minnesota Criminal Arrest Bureau and the Leech Lake Tribal Police Department.
“The Cass County District Attorney’s Office would like to specifically thank Senior Investigators Ryan Fisher from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and Special Agent Jake Hodapp from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension,” the statement read. “This crime was solved thanks to their persistence and dedication to the year-long investigation to identify the shooter.”