Attorney claims shooting that critically injured a Lawrence man this week was an accident; defendant says victim is his friend

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured on Sept. 4, 2024.

A shooting Wednesday that left a 23-year-old Lawrence man in critical condition was “for all intents and purposes an accident” about which the suspect in the case “feels terrible,” a defense attorney told a Douglas County judge Friday afternoon while attempting, unsuccessfully, to secure an own-recognizance bond for his client.

The two are friends, and “there is no animosity” between the injured man and defendant Coby Allen Gore Holland, attorney John DeMarco told Judge Blake Glover at Gore Holland’s first appearance.

“Not at all,” Gore Holland agreed via video from the Douglas County Jail. In the courtroom, multiple family members of Gore Holland’s were present, with one of them crying and miming passionate hugs toward the video screen.

Gore Holland, 22, was charged Friday with one felony count of aggravated battery for recklessly causing great bodily harm or disfigurement to another person and one misdemeanor count of unlawful discharge of a firearm in city limits.

Police said earlier this week that the shooting happened late Wednesday night outside Casey’s General Store, 1703 W. Sixth St. They said seven people were in a car when one of them was recklessly handling a gun and discharged it, striking the 23-year-old man, who was then dropped off at LMH Health’s emergency room and later transferred to a trauma center. Gore Holland was arrested hours later.

The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office sought a bond of $60,000 for Gore Holland, but Glover, after spending several minutes reviewing documents, settled on a $25,000 cash or surety bond and ordered no contact with the injured man and no use of firearms. He set Gore Holland’s next court date for Wednesday.

DeMarco, who had just been appointed during Holland’s appearance and who acknowledged not yet having read the arrest affidavit in the case, said that Holland had two previous misdemeanor cases that resulted in diversions; the nature of those cases was not immediately clear Friday.