Missouri Man Sentenced to 46 Months for Unlawful Possession of a Firearm

The Honorable Chief Judge Rodney W. Sippel of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri sentenced Freddie Doyle, 32, to 46 months of imprisonment for violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), in relation to an attempted assault on patrons of a LGBTQ-community bar in St. Louis, Missouri.

Doyle previously pleaded guilty and admitted that on June 27, 2019, he drove to Rehab Bar and Grill, a LGBTQ-community bar located in St. Louis, Missouri, with a Bushmaster Firearms AR-15 style automatic rifle (AR-15), bipod, scope, tactical light, four full rifle magazines, and approximately 160 rifle rounds in his vehicle. Doyle stayed at the bar for a number of hours until the bar closed at 3:00 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Doyle approached an African-American man, who had just exited a different LGBTQ establishment in the area, and invited that man back to his car. Doyle retrieved his rifle from his car and immediately aimed it at the African-American man. Doyle then chased the man as he ran away, told a bystander that he wanted to “get” the man, yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him, and fired his rifle once above the man’s head. When the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department apprehended Doyle and placed him into custody, Doyle continued to yell slurs at the man, including referring to him as a “fag.”

“All people in this nation have the right to enjoy themselves at a bar and grill without fearing that they will be threatened, shot, and seriously injured or killed by bigoted criminals,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate this kind of hateful violence. The Civil Rights Division strives to protect all Americans from acts of aggression and violence based on their race, color or sexual orientation.”

This case was investigated by the FBI. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Costantin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri, and Trial Attorneys Janea Lamar and Laura Gilson of the Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section, prosecuted the case.