Iowa City Man Sentenced to 144 Months in Federal Prison for Firearms Charges

DAVENPORT, Iowa – An Iowa City man was sentenced April 17, 2024, to 144 months in federal prison for Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition.

According to public court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, on July 3, 2022, Chris Lee Gordon, 34, a two-time convicted felon, possessed a stolen and loaded pistol at an apartment in Iowa City, Iowa. While Gordon slept, a three-year-old child staying at the apartment, got out of bed, found Gordon’s pistol, and fatally shot himself. Gordon, heard the gun shot, got up and saw the injured child, picked up his pistol and ran out of the apartment. Several weeks later, the pistol used in this fatal shooting was found on a roof of a building, with the serial number scratched off.

On July 24, 2022, Gordon was arrested with another firearm, a loaded Polymer 80 nine-millimeter handgun with an extended magazine that was capable of holding up to 32 rounds of ammunition.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Gordon will be required to serve three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Coralville Police Department and the Division of Criminal Investigation.

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.