Felony follow-up: Circleville hatchet attack suspect still in jail as case moves through Common Pleas Court

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CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — Three months after a hatchet attack near the AutoZone parking lot on West Mound Street left a man with a severe head wound, the man accused in the attack is still in the Pickaway County Jail, and his felony case is now in Pickaway County Common Pleas Court.

James Robert Gillilan, 31, of Williamsport, was arrested by Circleville police on July 10 and charged with attempted murder and felonious assault. His case was filed in Circleville Municipal Court on July 13 and bound over to Common Pleas Court on July 20, the step that sends a felony case before a grand jury. No bond is shown in the court record, and jail records show no release since the day of his arrest. He has now been in the Pickaway County Jail for three months.

The night of the attack

Officers answered a welfare check around 5:34 a.m. on June 29 at 326 W. Mound St. and found a man lying near the entrance to the AutoZone parking lot with a large cut to his head, covered in blood. His bicycle, blood evidence and a broken cellphone were found nearby. The man first believed he had been hit by a vehicle. He was taken to Berger Hospital and then transferred to Grant Medical Center in Columbus.

Hours later, workers with Dynahoe Construction and Cargill found a hatchet with suspected blood on it in a dirt lot near the railroad tracks across from the store, about 100 yards from where the victim was found. Police collected the hatchet as evidence.

Investigators pulled surveillance video from area businesses, including Cargill, AEP and Sunoco. According to police, the video showed the victim with an unidentified man shortly before 5:10 a.m., the man chasing the victim, then running east toward the railroad tracks and appearing to throw an object in the area where the hatchet was later recovered.

A man staying in a camper near the store told police a stranger who called himself “Scotty” had knocked around 3 a.m. asking for another person, water and a cigarette, and matched the man seen in the video.

At Grant Medical Center, the victim told detectives he had been with a man he knew only as “James,” who had been carrying a hatchet that night. He told police he had no memory of the attack itself, only blacking out and waking up in the roadway. He described James as having long brown hair and extensive tattoos, and said the man had recently been released from prison.

Detectives identified the suspect as Gillilan using surveillance video, prior body camera footage, photographs and witness identifications. Another individual identified him from the footage on July 10. Officers arrested him that afternoon at a residence on Logan Street in Circleville. According to police, he declined to speak with officers after his arrest.

The victim’s name has not been released. He survived the attack.

The record he carried into that night

Court and jail records show Gillilan’s history in Pickaway County runs back years. He was arrested in 2017 on heroin possession charges in Williamsport. In 2019 he faced charges of heroin possession and illegal conveyance of items into a detention facility in Pickaway County Common Pleas Court. In March 2023 he was booked on an aggravated menacing charge and held without bail. In 2024 he was convicted of burglary in Pickaway County and sentenced on August 14, 2024 to 10 months in prison, the same prison stint the victim in this case described to detectives.

Quick facts

Arrested by: Circleville Police Department
Booked: July 10, 2026, Pickaway County Jail, where he remains held as of October 12, 2026
Charges: Attempted murder and felonious assault, as announced by Circleville police (his booking also carries the attempt and murder statutes, which is how the attempted murder charge is recorded)
Case status: Filed in Circleville Municipal Court July 13, 2026; bound over to Pickaway County Common Pleas Court July 20, 2026. No bond shown in the court record.

Heritage Headlines has requested the full police report from Circleville PD and will update this story as the case moves.

Charges are allegations, not a conviction. Gillilan is innocent until proven guilty.

Send a tip or correction to info@heritageheadlines.com.

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