http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=304642A Hope Mills man who was involved in a shooting at the troubled Palomino night club was sentenced to federal prison Friday on a gun possession charge.
The defendant was also involved in a break-in of a soldier’s apartment in May 2007 which turned deadly after the soldier started shooting.
U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced 20-year-old Torrian Dontez Knowles to four years, two months in prison plus three years of probation. Knowles pleaded guilty in March to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He had previously been convicted of felony breaking-and-entering.
In the gun possession case, according to court papers and a news release from the U.S. Attorney Office, Knowles fired a gun from a car during a fight in The Palomino’s parking lot in November 2006. An off-duty Fayetteville police officer saw him fire the gun and arrested him.
Knowles’ lawyer said in a court filing that Knowles grabbed the gun from an acquaintance in the car “and fired a shot up into the air to quell the commotion. Never did Mr. Knowles point the gun at anyone or worse.
“What he did was reckless and stupid, but no one was injured,” wrote his lawyer, Joseph Craven.
Police complaints of shootings, fights, and other crime at The Palomino prompted city officials to shut it down this summer.
Knowles was arrested again with a gun twice in 2007, court papers say, both times with Michael Fripp.
Knowles, Fripp, Kwuamae Keaton and Buchkechio Geddie were accused of a home invasion in May 2007 in Lakeshore Grande apartments near Cross Creek Mall.
According to the prosecution, Knowles and Geddie broke in while Keaton waited in a car and Fripp stood lookout.
The break-in woke the soldier, who was in his bedroom with his wife. Geddie ran into the bedroom and the soldier shot and killed him.
Fripp pleaded guilty in state court in April to burglary and conspiracy charges for the break-in, plus several unrelated charges. He is serving a sentence of seven years, two months.
Knowles and Keaton are charged with burglary and conspiracy and await prosecution in the break-in case.
The original story of the break-in:
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=263118Just in case anyone is unsure, all four men were armed during the invasion/break-in:
.·*´¨)
.·`TCH
(..·*
010000110101001101101000011000010111001001110000010011110111001001000010011101010111001101110100
"When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser." - Socrates
Vita contingit, Vive cum eo. (Life Happens, Live With it.)
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." -- author unknown
"De omnibus dubitandum"
