CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte man was sentenced to over nine years in prison on federal gun charges, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.
James Earl Holmes, 45, was sentenced to 110 months in prison followed by three years of probation for possession of a firearm by a felon.
On May 30, 2021, Pineville Police responded to multiple 911 calls about a shooting at an apartment complex. When officers arrived, they found a woman inside a car who'd been shot twice. Witnesses at the scene told the officers that Holmes shot the woman.
Holmes was later found by officers sitting in his wheelchair. The officers also recovered three 9 mm shell casings from where the victim was shot. Holmes repeatedly denied having a gun; however, officers discovered he had a gun in his diaper. Records showed that Holmes was on supervised release for a federal gun conviction in Wisconsin and was prohibited from owning a gun.
The victim told investigators that she was at the same part as Holmes and that she rejected his advances. When she left the party, the victim said Holmes approached her vehicle and shot her.
Holmes denied shooting the woman, but forensic analysis matched the shell casings recovered at the scene to the gun that was taken from him by Pineville police. The gun also matched a bullet pulled from the victim's body.
Court records show that HOlmes committed numerous offenses in pretrial custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail, including threatening a detention officer who told him to put on a shirt. He's also accused of spitting at the officer, biting her and stabbing her with a shank. In March 2022, detention officers found a 4-inch shank in Holmes' wheelchair.
In June 2022, Holmes pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
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