BLUEFIELD, W.Va. -A Bluefield man who admitted to shooting a confidential police informant was sentenced on April 8 to ten years in federal prison on illegal firearm charges. Shawn T. Anderson, 36, of Bluefield, W.Va., previously pleaded guilty in October 2012 to carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Anderson admitted that on December 6, 2011, he met near Bluefield with an individual who was cooperating with law enforcement authorities. Anderson confronted the informant about cooperating with law enforcement and displayed a gun, attempting to scare the informant out of any further police cooperation. Anderson fired several rounds from the weapon, and one of the rounds struck the confidential informant in the hand.
The Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney John File handled the prosecution. The sentence was imposed by Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber.
The case was prosecuted as part of the Bluefield Pill Initiative (BPI). BPI is a collaborative, multi-agency regional law enforcement effort designed to halt prescription drug trafficking in Mercer, McDowell, and Wyoming Counties. The Bluefield Pill Initiative is led by the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, which includes the West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation; the Mercer, McDowell and Wyoming County Sheriff’s Departments, and the Bluefield and Princeton Police Departments.
This case was also brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in the United States by networking existing local programs targeting gun crime.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
