Taylor Jr. will serve at least 18 years in shooting death of Thomas Gill.
A Springfield man will serve 18 years to life in prison for the murder of a wellknown business owner last year.
Daniel Taylor Jr., 21, pleaded guilty last week to one count of murder with a firearm specification for the shooting death of Thomas Gill, 64, who was driving in his vehicle around Kenton and Burt streets on Jan. 5, 2023. He was scheduled to stand trial this week.
Gill was the owner of Gill’s Quality Meat Market, which has been in business on Selma Road since 1998.
Gill’s Meat Market posted on its Facebook page that it closed for the sentencing and celebrated Taylor’s conviction.
“Justice Served! R.I.P. Tom Gill we love you always,” the post stated.
In June, Springfield Police Division Sgt. James Byron said police suspected Taylor early on due to evidence left at the scene, but he declined to share if police believed the shoot- ing to be random or tar- geted.
Taylor was released from prison less than a month before the shooting, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correc- tion records.
Springfield police were called at 9 p.m. Jan. 5, 2023, to the area of Kenton and
Burt streets on a report of a man shot. As officers arrived, they saw a 2013 Buick Enclave in the south- east corner of the intersec- tion with several people standing around it, accord- ing to an incident report.
The SUV reportedly went off the roadway left of Burt Street while traveling south, the report stated. Police found Gill in the front driver seat with a wound to the left side of his neck. He was bleeding profusely.
The Springfield Fire Rescue Division transported Gill to Springfield Regional Medical Center, where he died from his injuries, according to the report.
Taylor will serve his sentence at the Orient Correctional Facility in Orient, Ohio.
Gill was loved by his community, evidenced by more than 100 people attending a candlelight vigil at his shop last year.
He was a Springfield native and Northeastern High School graduate who had owned the business since 1998.
Gill’s son Shayne took over the business after his father’s death.