A man who shot a Lee County sheriff’s deputy in 2022 was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Monday, according to a press release from the Middle District of North Carolina.
State charges in connection with the shooting, which happened on Post Office Road in January of 2022, are still pending against 30-year-old Jeremy Shane Gentry. But U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles gave Gentry the federal sentence plus three years of post release supervision after Gentry pleaded guilty to a federal firearm charge which stemmed from the incident.
According to the press release, three deputies responded to 1026 Post Office Road on January 14, 2022 after receiving a call about a suspect walking in the area with a gun. Deputies encountered Gentry when they arrived, and he matched the suspect description. Informed about the call, Gentry told deputies he wasn’t carrying a gun, but moved away from them and reached for his right hip when they approached him for a pat down.
At that point, two of the deputies grabbed Gentry’s arms while the third tried to take Gentry to the ground. At that point, Gentry took out a gun and fired, striking the third deputy. The bullet struck the deputy’s body camera and lodged in his bullet proof vest, and he wasn’t seriously injured. At that point, deputies said Gentry put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The gun malfunctioned and didn’t fire, and deputies were able to detain Gentry.
Although the state charges stemming from the shooting remain pending, the Middle District’s press release said Gentry’s status as a convicted felon – he was sentenced to between 13 and 25 months in prison in 2018 after a conviction on prostitution charges – made it federally illegal for him to possess a firearm. He pleaded guilty to the federal charge in December.