ST PAUL, Minn. — A Minneapolis man was sentenced to more than two years in prison for his connection to the illegal purchase of multiple firearms, including one used in last year's deadly Seventh Street Truck Park Bar shooting in St. Paul.
Jerome Fletcher Horton, 26, received a 25-month prison sentence followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty earlier this year to one count of false statements in the purchase of firearms.
According to the criminal complaint, the gun used in the Seventh Street Truck Park Bar shooting, which left 27-year-old Marquisha Wiley dead and 14 bystanders injured, was purchased by Horton a month prior to the shooting. When Horton bought the gun, he told officials he was the actual buyer of the firearm. Authorities later linked him to 33 firearm purchases between June 15, 2021 and Oct. 17, 2021. However, on Oct. 19, 2021, officials found no firearms while executing a search warrant.
Horton was named in a lawsuit filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison earlier this month against Fleet Farm for alleged negligence in selling firearms to "straw purchasers," a phrase that refers to situations where someone illegally purchases a gun from someone else.
Earlier this month, Gabriel Lee Young-Duncan was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy to purchase the gun illegally. According to the criminal complaint, Young-Duncan worked with a co-conspirator to make false statements to Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) throughout the Twin Cities in an effort to purchase dozens of guns illegally.
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