The father of a teenager accused of fatally shooting his classmate and injuring another outside of a North Texas high school in March has been sentenced to nearly seven years in federal prison.
According to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton, 50-year-old John Edward Porter was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman Thursday to 77 months on a felon in possession of a firearm charge.
The deadly shooting happened on March 20 at Lamar High School in Arlington. Porter's 15-year-old son allegedly shot and killed 16-year-old Ja’Shawn Poirier with a shotgun and injured a teenage girl with shrapnel from the weapon.
The district attorney's office said shortly after the fatal shooting, authorities executed a search warrant at the father's apartment where they found paperwork for a Mossberg, model 500, 12-gauge shotgun—the same gun recovered from the scene of the crime.
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Court documents said agents also recovered a Smith & Wesson .357 gauge revolver, a Glock .40 caliber pistol, and a Smith & Wesson M&P .556 caliber rifle from Porter's bedroom. He was charged in March and pled guilty in May.
Porter who had been convicted of first-degree robbery and sexual battery in Louisiana in 1996 and was thus legally barred from possessing firearms, admitted to possessing all four guns, including the Mossberg, according to Attorney Simonton. Porter pled guilty in May
Officials said records showed Porter tried to buy guns from licensed firearm dealers in 2014 and 2020, but was denied after the background check flagged his prior felony convictions.
Porter's son is being charged by the state with murder and aggravated assault. He remains innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
