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Bystander was shot 8 times for trying to help abused woman in Casa Grande. Now the shooter is going to prison for a long time

Brian Robinette was shot several times in 2021 as he was trying to break up a fight between a man and his girlfriend in Casa Grande.

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. — A Casa Grande man was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison after he shot and killed a bystander who tried to break up a fight between the defendant and his girlfriend.

A Pinal County jury found Giovanni Olivieri, 24, guilty of second-degree murder, endangerment and disorderly conduct for a deadly encounter that occurred outside of the Radisson Hotel in Casa Grande on Sept. 4, 2021.

Olivieri had gotten into a fight with his 19-year-old girlfriend in the parking lot that escalated to him dragging the young woman by her hair and neck, according to the Pinal County Attorney's Office.

During the altercation, 35-year-old Brian Robinette came across the parking lot and attempted to get Olivieri to release his girlfriend. The innocent bystander was then shot eight times by Olivieri. The couple fled the scene and Olivieri was later apprehended by police in front of his girlfriend's residence.

The victim left behind two kids.

Olivieri was sentenced this week to the Arizona Department of Corrections after the jury convicted him of several felonies and misdemeanors. The defendant will be placed on community supervision following his release from prison.

   

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