A St. Louis felon, Nolan Ryan Thomas, has been sentenced to 125 months in prison for fatally shooting a patron in a St. Louis County barbershop in 2023. U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp delivered the sentence on Tuesday after Thomas pleaded guilty in March to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Thomas, 34, admitted that on November 10, 2023, St. Louis County police responded to a shooting at a barbershop on West Florissant Avenue, where a patron had been shot in the leg and later died. Police located Thomas hiding in a nearby wooded area, where he was found with suspected narcotics and near a handgun.
While in jail, Thomas admitted to the shooting, claiming it was in self-defense. As a convicted felon, he is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm. Judge Schelp mandated that Thomas's federal sentence will run consecutively to any potential sentences from his pending charges in St. Louis County Circuit Court. The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Nichole Frankenberg prosecuting.