A bystander shot in Fayette Mall in Lexington now faces federal charge. Here’s why.
Marquis Tompkins was merely a bystander in the Aug. 23 Fayette Mall altercation that ended in him and two others shot. He wasn’t associated with the alleged shooter or the teen who died, according to Lexington police.
But Tompkins’ gunshot wound caused a new litany of legal issues for him when investigators found a gun in his car at the mall, according to Lexington police. Tompkins is a convicted felon and is prohibited from having a firearm, according to federal court records.
Four days after the shooting, he was charged with heroin distribution, according to federal court records. Tompkins has protested the charge.
He was arrested Monday and taken to the Franklin County Regional Jail, according to the jail’s website. He was held there without bond.
Tompkins allegedly sold a heroin/fentanyl mixture to a confidential informant working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, according to an affidavit filed by Special Agent Russel King that accompanies the federal criminal complaint.
At the time, Tompkins was on federal supervised release for firearm charges, according to King’s affidavit. Tompkins had a federal probation officer who complied with the investigation, according to King’s affidavit.
Investigators allegedly had a record of five instances in which Tompkins distributed drugs between February and March of this year, according to King’s affidavit. Investigators were able to track the drug activity through cars registered to Tompkins, his longtime significant other, and his brother, as well as his residence at an apartment complex in Lexington, according to the affidavit.
Tompkins, 41, acknowledged in a Facebook post Monday that a warrant was issued for his arrest after the shooting.
Tompkins said the warrant was for a “probation violation.” He also said his car got impounded, and he had several valuables confiscated while he was being treated at the hospital.
Police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said his items were just being held while he was in the hospital. She said that’s “standard” practice when there are valuables at a crime scene, and he was able to retrieve them.
Tompkins also said Mayor Linda Gorton called him to ask if he was OK. City spokeswoman Susan Straub confirmed the call. Tompkins is a city employee with the Division of Waste Management, Straub said.
“The mayor generally calls employees when she learns they have been seriously injured to express her concern,” Straub said.
Bystander in Fayette Mall shooting says arrest was an ‘injustice’
Tompkins called his arrest warrant an “injustice.”
“The law already had in their head that I was involved in a senseless act that left me wounded from a gunshot,” he said in his post.
Tompkins is scheduled to appear in federal court on Thursday afternoon for the drug charge, according to court records.
Tompkins’ criminal history involves cases at the state and federal level. In July 2014, he pleaded guilty to having a gun as a convicted felon, according to federal court records. He was sentenced to 67 months (just over 5 years) in federal prison in 2014 and was released in January 2019 on federal supervision for three years, according to court and prison records.
Tompkins was also charged with trafficking in a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of a school in June 2011. The charge was amended down to marijuana possession, and Tompkins pleaded guilty, according to Fayette Circuit court records.
He pleaded guilty in state court to a 2006 charge for trafficking cocaine, according to court records. He was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison and denied shock probation repeatedly, according to court records.
In 1998, Tompkins was found guilty of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute and using a gun in the commission of a drug crime, according to federal court records.
ATF officials said they responded to the Fayette Mall to help the Lexington Police Department, but they weren’t there because of Tompkins, Lexington police said. The ATF and other federal agencies participated because of the nature of the shooting, police said.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 1:28 PM.