A Kansas man who was shot with his own gun is headed to federal prison after admitting that he was illegally possessing the weapon.
Keeno DeVonte Collins, 26, of Ozawkie, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a news release. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Collins admitted in the plea deal he had been shot in the arm June 15, 2018, while on the campus of Topeka West High School, and that DNA from blood smeared on the pistol matched his own. He told police and medical personnel that he didn’t remember what happened.
Federal prosecutors in the release said that Collins “probably shot himself with (a) gun he was prohibited from having.”
Collins was not allowed to have the handgun, a Taurus Millennium PT140 PRO .40 caliber pistol, because of a prior felony drug conviction. The court ordered that the firearm be forfeited to the federal government.
Kansas Department of Corrections records show Collins, who is also known as the alias “Dolla,” was convicted in 2015 in Shawnee County of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute. Additional felony convictions include a pair of forgery charges in Shawnee County in 2015, as well as an aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in Jefferson County in 2012.
Topeka police were first called to the high school after receiving a call about gunshots in the area, and the caller suggested that a man shot himself, according to the narrative in the plea agreement. Officers found Collins with a through-and-through gunshot wound to his upper left arm, and he told AMR paramedics that he didn’t know what happened, but that he was by himself when he was shot.
Collins was taken to Stormont Vail Hospital, where he “was agitated and combative” with the staff. He indicated he didn’t want medical attention, signed papers to be discharged and walked out of the hospital.
The next morning, a school employee who was exercising at a football practice field found a gun in the grass. Police examined the pistol, which had blood smears on it and no bullets in the magazine.
A family member of Collins called police at around the same time and told a detective that he had shown up at her house the night before. He had been crying and told her that he had been shot with his own gun.
Police interviewed Collins at a police station, and he said that he couldn’t carry a firearm because he was a felon and that he did not shoot a gun the night before. A search of his phone turned up photos of the same gun that was found at the school football field. A Kansas Bureau of Investigation comparison of his DNA showed it matched swabs taken from the gun.
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