What began as a private encounter ended with a murder, an attempted murder charge and a life sentence.
Dewayne Gallishaw, a 29-year-old Tampa man, will spend the rest of his life behind bars after fatally shooting a man during an encounter at his home in April 2023.
According to State Attorney Suzy Lopez, Gallishaw and his 26-year-old boyfriend invited the victim to their home for a sexual encounter.
Nobody invited a crime scene, but that is exactly what the evening became.
Gallishaw welcomed the 23-year-old victim into his Marsh Harbor Place apartment, where the victim and Gallishaw’s boyfriend began engaging in sexual relations, according to his arrest affidavit.
The defendant at one point walked out of the apartment, and his boyfriend came to check on him. Gallishaw told him he was okay and to go back inside.
A few minutes later, Gallishaw re-entered the apartment, walked into the bedroom to get a firearm, and came back into the living room. He shot the victim twice in the head, the affidavit said.
His boyfriend locked himself in their bedroom, but Gallishaw kicked the door down. A struggle ensued, and the boyfriend was able to get Gallishaw out the front door and lock it behind him.
The defendant proceeded to shoot through the front door multiple times before fleeing the area.
It is the kind of case that sounds almost too bizarre to be real. Unfortunately, the courtroom does not care how strange a story sounds.
Another resident, in a different unit, was shot in the foot during the ordeal. The woman, who was 72 at the time of the shooting, told police she was in her living room when she started hearing a commotion in the neighboring unit and then gunshots.
Police established that Gallishaw fired at least 12 rounds into the woman’s apartment, and he was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon as a result.
For the death of the 23-year-old victim, Gallishaw was charged with first-degree capital murder. For shooting at his boyfriend, he was charged with first-degree attempted murder, a life felony.
In July 2026, Gallishaw went on trial, and just a week later, he was found guilty on all three charges.
For the victim’s loved ones, the consequences are permanent. There is no second chance and no undoing what happened.
For Gallishaw, the punishment is equally permanent in another way.
He will spend the remainder of his life in prison and that’s a hard lesson.
