PORTLAND, Ore.—On January 9, 2023, a Portland man with a criminal history spanning decades was sentenced to federal prison after he was arrested for discharging a firearm into the air outside a local restaurant during an altercation with his girlfriend.
Tyrone Lamont Allen, 53, was sentenced to 77 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release.
According to court documents, on November 9, 2021, officers from the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) responded to a disturbance and reports of shots fired near a restaurant and bar in southeast Portland. Witnesses reported Allen, who was on post-prison supervision for committing multiple bank robberies, and his girlfriend were involved in an altercation inside the restaurant that escalated as the couple moved outside. When the woman threatened to call 911, Allen fired a single shot from a handgun into the air and drove off. Responding officers viewed surveillance footage of the incident and observed Allen arguing with and hitting his girlfriend. The video also showed Allen’s girlfriend hiding behind vehicles in the restaurant’s parking lot while he drove around looking for her.
While conducting their investigation, officers observed Allen drive by the restaurant. The officers quickly stopped his vehicle and detained him. Allen admitted to the officers that he “got a little hot” in his altercation with his girlfriend, but denied firing or possessing a firearm. Officers found a .38 caliber revolver with five spent casings in the cylinder underneath the driver’s seat of Allen’s vehicle. Allen claimed the firearm belonged to his girlfriend.
On October 3, 2022, Allen was charged by criminal information with illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. On October 12, 2022, he pleaded guilty to the single charge.
This case was investigated by the FBI and PPB. It was prosecuted by Parakram Singh, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.