Thompson to serve 25 years for gun convictions

A Shreveport felon convicted earlier this year of brandishing a firearm while on a video call to his incarcerated brother was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

Caddo District Judge Donald E. Hathaway Jr. sentenced Tommy Pernell Thompson, 24, who was convicted June 24, 2026 of two counts of attempted possession of a firearm or carrying a concealed weapon and one count of possession of a firearm or carrying a concealed weapon.

Thompson was sentenced to five years in prison for each conviction for attempted possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was sentenced to 15 years for the possession of a firearm by a felon conviction. The sentences are to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence and are consecutive.

On March 27, 2025, investigators with the Violent Crime Abatement Team of the Shreveport Police Department watched video jail calls made by Thompson to his sibling who was a prisoner at Caddo Correctional Center. Thompson brandished a pistol on two separate video calls. In calls made June 18-19, 2025, detectives observed Thompson brandishing an AR-style pistol with a drum magazine. 

Detectives obtained a search warrant for Thompson's residence, where officers found a Draco-styled rifle with a drum magazine and 100 rounds of ammunition, along with his cellphone, insurance card and driver’s license. A search of the cell phone turned up photographs that showed him with the rifle in several pictures. Metadata showed that he possessed the rifle after his 2023 conviction for aggravated assault upon a dating partner, a conviction that bars him from possessing firearms.

Assistant District Attorneys Chase Burgess and Jason Waltman prosecuted Thompson, who was represented by the Indigent Defenders office.

The case was docket No. 410336.

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