NASHVILLE, TENN – February 25, 2021 – Justin Jerome Jones, 33, of Nashville, Tennessee, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell Jr., to 235 months in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Jones was charged on February 7, 2018, after residents of the Tony Sudekum public housing neighborhood called police when they saw Jones outside a residence, arguing with his 11-year-old daughter, before firing several gunshots into the ground near the young girl. When officers from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) arrived, Jones barricaded himself inside an apartment. MNPD S.W.A.T. officers, as well as federal agents, responded to the scene and Jones then repeatedly fired at the officers. One round struck an MNPD officer. After several hours, Jones exited the apartment and was immediately taken into federal custody.
A search warrant was then executed at the apartment and officers recovered several spent shell casings, a cocked .357 caliber revolver; a .38 caliber revolver; and parts from a 9mm pistol. Additional firearms parts and boxes of ammunition were also recovered from the apartment the following day. The investigation also determined that Jones had previously brandished the 9mm pistol at another person.
Jones had previously been convicted of aggravated robbery in Davidson County, Tennessee, in 2007, and was also convicted of aggravated robbery in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 2009, relating to armed bank robbery. Jones was released from custody in Ohio in December 2016 and paroled to the State of Mississippi.
Jones pleaded guilty in November 2019 to three counts of being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sunny A.M. Koshy, Joseph Montminy and Ahmed Safeeullah prosecuted the case.