Cedar Rapids Felon Involved in a Shooting Sentenced to Federal Prison

A man who shot at another person was sentenced today to 15 years in federal prison.

Anthony Isiah Pennell, age 28, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 30, 2025, guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Information from the sentencing hearing showed that, on October 9, 2024, in a mall parking lot in Cedar Rapids, Pennell fired a gun.  Following an argument between an individual who was with Pennell and another person, Pennell grabbed a gun out of a purse belonging to a woman who he was also with, and he began shooting at the other person.  Pennell’s gunfire hit the back of the other person’s car, and it also hit another car that was parked in the parking lot.  As officers were responding to the shooting, they saw Pennell running from the area.  Pennell threw the gun into a storm drain as he was running.  Pennell was prohibited from possessing firearms based on a prior assault-related felony conviction from 2018. 

Pennell was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.  Pennell was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Pennell is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam J. Vander Stoep and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.  

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 25-CR-10.

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