ATLANTA — A 43-year-old Atlanta man was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after prosecutors said he fired a stolen handgun at a stranger on the platform of MARTA’s Five Points station, the system’s busiest rail hub.
Robert Lyles, who as a convicted felon was barred from possessing firearms, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release after pleading guilty Jan. 13 to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, according to federal authorities.
The shooting occurred Aug. 4, 2022, after Lyles argued with another man at the downtown station, prosecutors said. After several minutes, authorities said, Lyles pulled a pistol from his waistband, fired a shot in the other man’s direction and fled. About five days later, officers found Lyles near the entrance to the same station and he was carrying the stolen firearm used in the shooting, prosecutors said.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Lyles in March 2024 on charges tied to the incident, but by then he had been released from local custody, federal officials said. The U.S. attorney’s office said federal authorities later brought the case for federal prosecution in December 2024, and Lyles was remanded to U.S. Marshals custody without bail after appearing in federal court in March 2025.
Federal officials described Lyles as a repeat offender with a history of violent convictions. Prosecutors said his record includes drug convictions in 2002, 2006 and 2014; a 2006 simple battery conviction involving a knife; a 2013 family violence battery and child cruelty conviction; a 2014 felony obstruction conviction after an encounter in which an officer was injured; and a 2015 family violence aggravated assault conviction involving a handgun.
Federal officials said many of his state sentences were probated, suspended or commuted. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with assistance from MARTA police, and it was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas Evert and Jonell L. Lucca, authorities said.
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