A Charleston man was sentenced on July 20 to four years in federal prison for a gun crime, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto.

Shon Wayne Cobbs, 45, previously pleaded guilty to a single-count indictment charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Cobbs admitted that on February 3, 2013, he discharged a .40 caliber pistol inside his kitchen three times during an argument with a woman who was standing in the kitchen doorway. The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department arrested Cobbs at the residence without further incident. While executing a search warrant, deputies located a Beretta .40 caliber pistol, three spent shell casings, and bullet fragments from the kitchen. A spent bullet was also recovered from the adjacent living room. Furthermore, deputies seized an additional 16 firearms from several locations throughout the residence.

Cobbs was prohibited from possessing any firearm under federal law because he was convicted in 2008 of the felony offense of unlawful wounding in Kanawha County Circuit Court, after a jury found him guilty of assaulting a woman and breaking her arm by twisting it behind her back.

In August 2013, Cobbs pleaded guilty to wanton endangerment in Kanawha County Circuit Court as a result of the same conduct giving rise to the federal prosecution. He was sentenced to home confinement.

The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks handled the prosecution. United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentence.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in the United States by networking existing local programs targeting gun crime.