Columbia man gets 7 years in prison in illegal ammo case
A Columbia man was sent to federal prison in connection with a gun-related case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a Tuesday release that Leonard Earl Mitchell, 30, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition. U.S. District judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Mitchell to 90 months in prison, followed by three years of court-ordered supervision.
The Columbia Police Department and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the case stemmed from a May 2020 incident on Two Notch Road in Columbia where officers recovered nine shell casings in a parking lot. Officers reviewed surveillance footage that showed an unnamed person fire two shots from a car at Mitchell as he was leaving a business. The release said Mitchell then got in a parked car, got a gun and fired several shots at the passing car. When Mitchell was later arrested, he had a pistol that matched the shell casings found at the scene.
Investigators said Mitchell had a number of previous felony convictions, including failure to stop for blue lights, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, assault and battery second degree, distribution of marijuana, assault and battery first degree, possession of methamphetamine/cocaine, and carrying or concealing a weapon by an inmate. He was prohibited from possessing a gun or ammunition.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the case was prosecuted as part of the as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.
