Hawkeye Reporter

A Waterloo man has been sentenced to fifteen years in federal prison for his involvement in a gang-related shooting that occurred on August 21, 2022. Anthony Kyle O’Donnell, 37, pleaded guilty on November 18, 2024, to possession of a firearm by a felon.

According to information presented at sentencing, four individuals dressed in black fired thirty-four rounds at a residence occupied by eight people, including a two-year-old child. The shooting resulted in injuries from broken glass to four occupants and a bullet graze to another. Bullets entered both the living room and a bedroom of the house.

After the incident, officers found two men dressed in black outside a residence about five blocks away and recovered three firearms from a nearby shed. O’Donnell was located about a block from where the firearms were found; he was wearing all black and sweating. DNA testing linked O’Donnell to one of the recovered weapons—a stolen Beretta pistol—from which ten of the rounds had been fired.

Law enforcement determined that the shooting was gang-related due to associations between some victims and suspects. The investigation involved the Waterloo Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, and Cedar Falls Police Department.

O’Donnell was sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams in Cedar Rapids to 180 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

“This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.”

O’Donnell remains in United States Marshal’s custody pending transfer to federal prison.

The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Kyndra Lundquist.