Defendant Was on Supervised Release at Time of the Shooting
WASHINGTON - Shawn Gray, 25, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 100 months in prison on charges stemming from a shooting in which he fired at an unmarked van full of police officers in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.
Gray earlier pled guilty, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, a District of Columbia offense, and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a felony, a federal offense. He was sentenced by the Honorable Ellen S. Huvelle. Upon completion of his prison term, he will be placed on three years of supervised release. Gray has remained incarcerated since his arrest on Jan. 26, 2013.
According to the government's factual proffer, on Jan. 26, 2013, at about 7:10 p.m., officers of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) were operating an unmarked burgundy minivan in the 1600 block of Montello Avenue NE. The officers were wearing casual clothing and operating as a unit in a robbery intervention program.
As the officers drove through the block, they spotted Gray and another individual acting suspiciously. After the officers drove around and re-entered the block, Gray suddenly fired multiple gunshots at the van. One bullet entered the van and passed between the four officers inside, and others apparently hit houses across the street.
Gray fled, but was soon found hiding underneath a parked vehicle in the rear of the alleyway from which he had fired. Seven spent shell casings were found on the ground. The gun itself was ultimately recovered from the ground near where the defendant was seized. At the time of the shooting, Gray was on supervised release for a 2009 conviction in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for carrying a pistol without a license.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips praised the work of the Metropolitan Police Department and the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences. He also commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including former Paralegal Specialist Starla Stolk, and Paralegal Specialists Tisha Tobias, Kim Hall, and Jessica Moffatt. Finally, he expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vincent Caputy, who indicted the case, and Stephen J. Gripkey, who handled the case thereafter.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
