MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tennessee man has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on charges connected to the fatal shooting of a police officer in 2015.
U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman sentenced Tremaine Wilbourn on Friday in federal court in Memphis.
Authorities said Wilbourn shot and killed Memphis Police Officer Sean Bolton while the officer tried to detain him in August 2015.
On Aug. 1, 2015, Wilbourn was in the passenger seat of a vehicle parked on a street in East Memphis when Officer Bolton approached the vehicle. Bolton attempted to detain Wilbourn before the defendant pulled a 9 mm pistol and shot Bolton several times.
Prosecutors said Wilbourn committed a carjacking as he tried to escape after the shooting. He pleaded guilty in April to carjacking, possessing a firearm during and in relation to the carjacking and felony possession of ammunition.
Wilbourn was on federal probation after serving prison time for armed bank robbery. He faces a first-degree murder charge in state court.
