Iowa man shot gun “wildly on a populated street” sent to prison for 8 years

CEDAR RAPIDS – An Iowa man who shot a gun “wildly on a populated street” has been sent to prison for 8 years.

Derrick Damon Timmons, age 30, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after a December 17, 2020 guilty plea to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Evidence at sentencing showed that, during the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2020, Timmons had a discussion with another person in Dubuque. Video evidence showed that Timmons left and then returned to the area, where another felon, Katwan Brown, handed Timmons a pistol. Brown and Timmons then went inside a residence for a brief time. When Brown and Timmons returned to the street, Timmons engaged in an animated argument with the other individual. Someone fired a round and people in the area scattered, with Timmons running back into the residence. After a few moments Timmons leaned back out of the doorway and shot wildly up the street multiple times, striking one individual. Another of the rounds Timmons fired struck an occupied apartment nearby, and yet another round struck an unoccupied vehicle. Timmons fled the area after the shooting.

At sentencing, the judge found that Timmons’s conduct was “reprehensible and incredibly dangerous.” Timmons had previously been convicted of felony obstruction of justice and a prior misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, domestic abuse assault with strangulation.

Timmons was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Timmons was sentenced to 100 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Brown was previously sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release.

Timmons is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was investigated by the Dubuque Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham.