“Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison For Shooting an Acquaintance”

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From MPD:

Marcus A. Owens, 41, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a seven-year prison term on charges stemming from a shooting that occurred in February 2012 in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced. Owens pled guilty in March 2012, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to aggravated assault while armed with a firearm. He was sentenced by the Honorable Lynn Leibovitz. Upon completion of his prison term, Owens will be placed on five years of supervised release.

According to the government’s evidence, the victim, then 23, and Owens had met through mutual acquaintances. On February 1, 2012, at about 9:40 p.m., they were near the 800 block of Butternut Street NW, when Owens produced a 9mm firearm and pointed it at the man. Owens fired two shots into the victim’s stomach, another shot toward the victim’s head, grazing it, and finally a fourth shot into the victim’s foot. Witnesses observed Owens walking away from the crime scene carrying a firearm. Concerned citizens called 9-1-1 and an ambulance transported the victim to the hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.

Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers who responded to the area observed Owens, who matched the description of the suspect from the shooting, enter a taxicab on nearby Georgia Avenue NW, together with a female companion. Police conducted a traffic stop of the taxi and observed a firearm on the back seat floor – under Owens’s foot. Shell casings that were recovered by police from the crime scene matched the caliber of the recovered firearm. The victim later identified Owens as the person who shot him. The victim had met Owens through mutual acquaintances.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the detectives, patrol officers and crime scene officers who worked on the case from MPD. He also praised the efforts of Victim Witness Advocates Jennifer Clark and James Brennan and Paralegal Assistant Debra McPherson. Finally, he expressed appreciation to Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Eaton, formerly of the Fourth District Unit of the Superior Court Felony Major Crimes Section, who prosecuted this case.