A man convicted of firing an AR-15 rifle at police officers outside a Pennsylvania Walmart in 2015 arrived in court for his sentencing on Thursday, Dec. 14. He was displaying a shocking new jailhouse tattoo on his forearm, with a skull and tombstones over the names of his would-be victims, Fox61 reports.
The chilling tattoo shocked the courtroom as Scott Sargent, of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, was led into a Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to face sentencing for his role in an October 2015 shootout at the Walmart parking lot in Wilkes-Barre Township.
A court found the Shenandoah man guilty in October of nearly two dozen charges, including attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated assault, and reckless endangering.
On Thursday, Sargent was ordered to serve sentences on most of the charges consecutively, the Daily Mail reported. This means he will spend a minimum of 179 years in jail, putting his earliest eligibility for parole in the year 2196.
In practice, Sargent will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“I’m pleased that he’s not coming out of jail at all,” said Stacy Bouton, the wife of officer Brian Bouton, whose police vehicle was hit by rounds from Sargent’s AR-15, according to WNEP16.
Bouton’s 11-year-old son, Conor, is well-aware he nearly lost his father in the shootout. The boy was given the opportunity to testify in court and address his father’s would-be killer.
“When he’s in jail, he’s going to remember that those people are still alive today and he’s just going to remember it for the rest of his life,” Conor Bouton said, WNEP16 reported.
But a disturbing new aspect of the case was revealed at the sentencing hearing. A prosecutor in the case announced that Sargent recently had someone ink a morbid tattoo, which depicts a skull hovering over five tombstones bearing the names of his would-be victims.
“We learned that he received a tattoo with five tombstones with the names of his victims that survived his attack, with a skeleton skull over the tombstones. We had investigators photograph it and that was used in his sentencing today. I thought the tattoo was deplorable. I think it’s disrespectful but it speaks volumes of who he is and what his intentions were that day,” said prosecutor Jarrett Ferentino, WNEP16 reported.
But Ferentino added that the ink on Sargent’s forearm will remind him that he tried, and failed, to murder five officers in the Walmart parking lot, Times Leader reported.
“I want him to be reminded every day of his failure; I want him to remember every day that his last act as a free man was a failure,” said Ferentino.
Wilkes-Barre police officer Alan Gribble, who hit Sargent with a shotgun blast in October and brought the escapade to an end, said the tattoo highlights Sargent’s deadly intent in firing at police officers.
“When I first heard about the tattoo, I didn’t know if it was a joke or not, but obviously, as it turns out, it’s very real,“ said Gribble, WNEP16 reports. ”It just shows exactly what kind of person he is and he has absolutely no remorse for what he did that day.”
“That tattoo is very appalling. I’m very disturbed that someone could actually do something like that,” said Stacy Bouton, WNEP16 reports.
Sargent did not make any statements during the hearing, and left the courtroom expressionless.
Here are the details of Sargent’s sentence:
• 10 to 20 years for each of five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, each to be served consecutively, or one after the other.
• 20 to 40 years for each of six counts of assault on a law enforcement officer, each to be served consecutively.
• Seven to 14 years on an aggravated assault charge, to be served consecutively to the other terms.
• One to two years for each of several reckless endangerment charges.
• 90 days for a harassment count.
Sargent also received a fine of several thousand dollars.
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