He killed an aspiring teacher in Columbia, got 50 years in prison

The man charged with murder in the shooting death of 32-year-old Timothy Gentry in July, 2015, pleaded guilty to that crime and others on Tuesday and was sentenced to 50 years in prison, Columbia Police said in a news release Tuesday night.

Ibin Kenta Patterson, 47, entered guilty pleas in Richland County General Sessions court to murder, attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and being a felon in possession of a weapon and ammunition.

Gentry, a Clemson grad who worked with children in Columbia and was involved in overseas charity work, was fatally shot during the early hours of July 28, 2015, near his Columbia home. He was found with a gunshot wound to the upper body lying in the roadway of the 1200 block of Beaufort Street. He died a short time later at a local hospital.

Police arrested Patterson two days after Gentry’s shooting, after he exchanged gunfire with a Columbia Police officer who was investigating an armed robbery. Police found an SCCY 9mm pistol in Patterson’s possession, the same type of weapon used in the Gentry shooting.

A SLED analysis concluded it was the same weapon that killed Gentry.

The son of a Clemson family practice physician and 2009 graduate from Clemson, Gentry was deeply religious, family members said after his death.

Carol Holt-Cooper supervised Gentry during his work at Shandon Presbyterian Church’s child development center, and described him as an enthusiastic and caring teacher.

“Often, you have to tell teachers to get down on the floor and play with kids,” she said. “He is somebody I never, ever had to tell to sit down on the floor and play or read – he was always down on their level.”

This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 9:19 PM with the headline "He killed an aspiring teacher in Columbia, got 50 years in prison."