OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Darvis Dean Arnett, Jr., 25, of Oklahoma City, is headed to federal prison for 18 years after a string of reckless shootings and a rap sheet that already disqualified him from owning a firearm. Arnett was sentenced Monday, January 30, 2023, by U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot, who cited the defendant’s extensive criminal history as a key factor in the lengthy sentence.
The case began to unfold on March 14, 2021, when Oklahoma City Police Department (OCPD) officers responded to a “shots fired” call at a Hampton Inn. Witnesses reported Arnett engaged in a heated verbal altercation, escalating to gunfire. Arnett allegedly pulled a handgun and fired one round into the air, then two more rounds toward the man he was fighting. He was quickly apprehended during a traffic stop, the weapon discovered hidden in the vehicle’s trunk.
But the Hampton Inn incident wasn’t an isolated event. Just over a month later, on May 3, 2021, Edmond Police responded to another “shots fired” call – this time in a residential neighborhood. Surveillance footage captured Arnett unleashing a barrage of over 30 rounds from a firearm equipped with a high-capacity drum magazine. A subsequent search of his parents’ home revealed the weapon stashed in a clothes hamper in their bedroom.
The final incident occurred on November 11, 2021. Arnett’s ex-girlfriend discovered her apartment door kicked in. When she called 911, Arnett attempted to force his way inside. After she and a friend managed to barricade the door, Arnett moved to the parking lot and fired three shots into the air. Responding OCPD officers heard the gunshots and quickly located Arnett at his parents’ Edmond residence, where his father turned over a firearm Arnett had concealed in the attic.
Federal prosecutors successfully argued that Arnett, already a convicted felon, had no legal right to possess firearms. Court records show prior convictions in Oklahoma County for robbery with a firearm and first-degree burglary – cases CF-2015-2755, CF-2015-5969, and CF-2015-8233. The 216-month sentence – 18 years – was handed down after Arnett pleaded guilty to three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He will also serve three years of supervised release following his incarceration.
The investigation was a joint effort by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Oklahoma City Police Department, and the Edmond Police Department, with support from the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney David R. Nichols, Jr. prosecuted the case as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative and “Operation 922” and “Operation Shots Fired” programs, aimed at reducing violent crime and targeting illegal gun possession.
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