MEMPHIS, Tenn.– A Clarksville, Tennessee man was sentenced to 37 years in prison Thursday for stalking and kidnapping his ex-girlfriend.
Keatron Walls, 37, was sentenced on four counts of kidnapping, one count of interstate stalking resulting in permanent disfigurement of a victim, and one count of using a firearm to commit interstate stalking, United States Attorney Joseph C. Murphy, Jr. announced.
According to information presented in court, on November 23, 2016, Walls drove from Clarksville to a home in DeSoto County, Mississippi where his ex-girlfriend lived with several family members and fired at least 10 shots into the living room window.
Four of the seven people in the house were shot. As a result of the shooting, one of the victims lost his leg and another victim lost a finger.
None of the victims saw Walls and he got away before law enforcement arrived. He later gave a false alibi regarding where he was during the shooting, but investigators disproved it through further investigation.
On April 20, 2018, less than 18 months after the shooting, Walls kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, her 5-year-old daughter, and her boyfriend at gunpoint from their apartment in Memphis.
According to the press release, he forced his ex-girlfriend to drive her car to a nearby location so he could put his AK-47-style rifle into the car. She drove back to her apartment where Walls made her lock her daughter inside the apartment alone.
That’s when investigators said Walls ordered the victim to drive to Marshall County where his relative lived and threatened to kill her and her boyfriend. Once they arrived, both victims were forced out of the car, onto their knees, and Walls fired three shots past their heads.
After arguing with several family members about whether he should let them go, Walls made the victims get in the car and drive to Shelby County, where they were eventually rescued by officers.
Investigators said forensic ballistics testing showed that the AK-27-style rifle in the car’s trunk matched the shell casings recovered from the November 23rd shooting in DeSoto County.
Walls was convicted in a six-day trial earlier this year. His sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
