A previously convicted felon has been sentenced to federal prison for possession of a firearm and ammunition at an Atlanta motel.
According to prosecutors, on July 1, 2022, Atlanta Police Department officers responded to a report of shots fired at a Travel Inn on Forest Hills Drive in Atlanta, Georgia. Two witnesses informed APD officers that they saw a man — later identified as Marcus Thomas, 39, of Atlanta, Georgia — with a firearm outside his motel room.
The witnesses said that they saw Thomas enter his room and then heard gunshots coming from his vicinity.
As APD officers approached the room, they observed damage to the window consistent with gunshots. Thomas was ordered out of the room and was detained. APD officers then searched the room and found a firearm magazine and multiple rounds of ammunition on the floor of the bathroom, as well as shell casings from spent ammunition on the floor near one of the beds in the room.
A few days later, APD officers recovered the firearm used in the shooting, which was hidden inside a fitted sheet tucked into the mattress of one of the beds in the room.
FBI special agents investigated the shooting and discovered that Thomas recently served a sentence for aggravated assault and was released from prison four days prior to the shooting. Thomas was also previously convicted of multiple other felonies, including terroristic threats, possession of cocaine, and theft by receiving stolen property.
Thomas was convicted of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, after he pleaded guilty on Aug. 28, 2024. U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Geraghty sentenced Thomas to three years, one month in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
