Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 10 years in workplace shooting

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man convicted of shooting a co-worker last year was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.

Jamal D. Edwards, 27, originally charged with attempted murder, pleaded in February to intimidation with a dangerous weapon, willful injury causing bodily injury and going armed with intent.

Edwards, during sentencing, admitted to taking a .45-caliber handgun on April 9, 2020, into Associated Materials, 3801 Beverly Rd. SW, where he was employed through a temporary agency.

He said he had been threatened by Mark Robertson, then 36, the co-worker he shot inside the vinyl window manufacturing business.

Edwards also admitted he left the state after the shooting. He apologized to the victim, the workers at the business, the court and the community for the crime.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Kevin McKeever sentenced Edwards to 10 years on the intimidation charge and five years each on the other two charges but ran the sentences concurrently for 10 years in prison.

Edwards must serve a mandatory minimum of 50 percent or five years before being eligible for parole. His fines were suspended.

McKeever, during sentencing, said he tried to balance the seriousness of the crime with Edwards’ criminal history, which he didn’t think warranted a longer sentence.

First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks, after the sentencing, said Edwards’ record from Alabama was unclear. Each state has different charges and it wasn’t determined if any of his convictions were felonies.

Maybanks asked the judge to run the sentences consecutively for 20 years because of the seriousness of the crime.

McKeever had access to Edwards’ criminal history in the presentencing report but the report wasn’t made public during the sentencing.

Robertson didn’t attend the hearing and didn’t submit a victim impact statement to the court.

Maybanks said Robertson didn’t cooperate with authorities or the county attorney’s office during the investigation.

Police were called to the window manufacturing business for an active shooter report on April 9, 2020, according to a criminal complaint. Several employees identified Edwards to police as the man they saw chasing Robertson, while firing several shots at him before running from the scene.

Robertson suffered a gunshot injury to his abdomen and was treated at a hospital and released, the complaint stated.

A company official said the shooting occurred around the end of the third shift — 5 a.m. He couldn’t comment on how many employees were in the business at that time.

Edwards wasn't arrested until about a month later, May 8, in Mobile, Ala. The U.S. Marshals Service, in a news release, said it helped locate Edwards by distributing his photo along the Gulf Coast. Edwards was arrested after his father brought him to the Mobile police department to turn himself in.

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