Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald today announced the conviction of MARCUS ANTHONY MATTOX, 25, for illegally possessing a firearm. The jury found MATTOX guilty following a four-day trial before Senior Judge Donovan W. Frank in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota.

As proven at trial, in the early morning hours of September 22, 2018, police officers heard a volley of gunshots in the area of Lexington Avenue and University Avenue in St. Paul, followed by a second volley of gunshots. Thereafter, officers responded to a report of shots fired at an apartment complex on Concordia Avenue. Officers recovered from the apartment complex’s parking lot ten discharged.40-caliber bullet casings and a 9mm firearm. Officers also noticed a fresh blood trail leading from near the front doors of the apartment building through the parking lot. Officers followed the blood trail, and along its path they found a loaded Desert Eagle .50-caliber semiautomatic pistol. The hammer of the firearm was cocked back in the firing position and it had blood on the handgrips, the trigger guard, and the trigger. While officers were investigating the scene, they learned that MATTOX had been taken to Regions Hospital with non-life threatening gunshot wounds to his face and foot. Officers responded to Regions Hospital and collected MATTOX’s bloody clothing.

As proven at trial, while reviewing the surveillance video from the apartment building, officers observed a male exit the apartment building, wearing clothing that matched MATTOX’s clothing collected from the hospital, approach another male in the parking lot and exchange gunfire with that male before falling to the ground, getting back up and running from the scene along the same path as the trail of blood officers found at the scene. A subsequent DNA analysis confirmed that MATTOX’s blood was on the Desert Eagle .50-caliber pistol.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Saint Paul Police Department. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), an initiative that brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement to combat violent crime.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin Bejar and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez tried the case.

Defendant Information:
MARCUS ANTHONY MATTOX, a/k/a "Marcus Anthony Maddox," a/k/a "M-Nutt", 25, St. Paul, Minn.
Convicted: Felon in possession of a firearm - armed career criminal, 1 count

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