ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a felon who fatally shot someone in a barbershop in 2023 to 125 months in prison.
Nolan Ryan Thomas, now 34, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted that on Nov. 10, 2023, St. Louis County police were called to a barbershop in the 11600 block of West Florissant Avenue, where a patron had been shot in the leg. Police found Thomas hiding in a nearby wooded area, with suspected narcotics and near a handgun. The victim later died of his injury. While in jail, Thomas admitted shooting the victim but said he did so in self-defense. Thomas is a felon and is thus barred from possessing a firearm.
Judge Schelp ordered Thomas’ sentence to run consecutive to any sentence he receives for pending charges in St. Louis County Circuit Court.
The St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nichole Frankenberg prosecuted the case.
Contact
Robert Patrick, Public Affairs Officer, robert.patrick@usdoj.gov.
