Lansing man sentenced in federal weapons case after 2 toddlers shot themselves in his home

GRAND RAPIDS — A Lansing man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on a pair of weapons convictions.

Tyrone Lekese Hooper, 25, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms and a felon in possession of ammunition in January in connection with firearms found in his car and home in 2022, court records indicate.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering gave him two concurrent terms of 10 years in prison and ordered he spend three years on supervised release after leaving prison.

U.S. Attorney Mark Totten described Hooper as a serial offender who was tied to incidents in which young children shot themselves with firearms.

In June 2022, a two-year-old child accidentally shot himself in the arm with a gun he found in Hooper's apartment, Totten said. And in November 2022, a different 2-year-old accidentally shot himself with a different gun he found in Hooper's apartment, Totten said. Both children survived.

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The case was investigated by Lansing police, East Lansing police, Michigan State University police and the FBI, Totten said.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com . Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing man sentenced in federal weapons case after 2 toddlers shot themselves in his home