This week, Demarcus Deon Booker, 34, of Lexington, was sentenced to six (6) years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. United States District Judge Mary G. Lewis sentenced Booker. There is no parole in the federal system and Booker's sentence is to be followed by a three-year term of court-ordered supervision.

Special Assistant United States Attorney Casey Rankin Smith of the 11th Circuit Solicitor's Office prosecuted the case. This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), West Columbia Police Department, and Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.  This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local 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.

On June 12, 2018, officers with the West Columbia Police Department responded to shots fired at a gas station in West Columbia.  A 911 caller observed a person matching Booker’s description with a handgun tucked in his pants walking away from a silver vehicle.  Officers located an unoccupied silver Chevrolet Cruz with bullet holes parked next to a building in close proximity to the gas station.

Officers searched the area and made contact with two individuals, one of whom was Booker, who were walking away from the gas station. Booker ultimately fled into the woods where law enforcement officers located him after a short pursuit.  Officers were able to determine that Booker and occupants of another vehicle exchanged gunfire, and Booker shot out of the passenger window of the silver Chevrolet Cruz.  Booker had at least one firearm as he fled the scene, which officers were able to recover.

Federal law prohibited Booker from possessing firearms and ammunition based upon multiple prior convictions, including a 2006 assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and drug convictions in 2012.