$16,000 reward offered in shooting death of young Huntsville aerospace engineer

$16,000 reward offered in shooting death of young Huntsville aerospace engineer

The reward is now $16,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the killing of a 27-year-old Huntsville aerospace engineer hit by bullets fired into his apartment.

Andrew Gilliam, 27, died Jan. 4 at Huntsville Hospital after being rushed from his Sunlake Apartments residence off Zeirdt Road, police said. Gilliam’s apartment was one of two fired into at 3 a.m. that morning, police said.

“He adored his wife, went to church and didn’t own a gun,” Gilliam’s aunt, Sandra Williams of Huntsville, said Friday. “It’s a nightmare. There is no suspect.”

Williams said a bullet hit Gilliam after going through a ground floor window into the couple’s bedroom at the back of the apartment. Both apartments were fired at from the back, she said.

“Somebody knows something,” Williams said, and the family hopes that person will be motivated by the reward to call police. CrimeStoppers, his family and the apartment complex have teamed to offer the reward.

Gilliam loved his job and worked on engine valves for the Artemis moon mission rocket developed by NASA and contractors in Huntsville, said his uncle, retired FBI agent Victor Hartman.

Gilliam worked for Qualis, an engineering company that supports NASA and military in Huntsville and was active in his Decatur church.