A Gary man got five years Thursday on a federal gun charge, Acting U.S. Attorney M. Scott Proctor said in a release.

Montrell D. Patterson, 31, pleaded guilty in May to being a felon in possession of a firearm, records show. He will have to serve two years on supervised release after prison.

Gary Police responded at 5:45 p.m. July 10, 2024 to 17th Avenue and Pierce Street, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Padilla wrote in court filings. They saw Patterson with a gun in his waistband.

When he ran and tried to hop a fence, he dropped the loaded gun.

His defense lawyer Matthew Soliday wrote that his client “acknowledges his responsibility.”

“He did not carry the firearm to commit a crime but, misguidedly, for self-protection in a community where violence had touched his own family,” he w

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