John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that SHAQUILLE RICHARDSON, 23, of New Haven, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to federal robbery and firearm charges.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on June 30, 2016, at approximately 1:41 a.m., New Haven Police officers were dispatched to Ferry Street after a report of person who had been shot. At the scene, officers found two victims. One victim had been shot in the left elbow and was bleeding heavily, and the other victim was bleeding from the nose.
The investigation, which has included witness interviews, DNA evidence, ballistics evidence and footage from a surveillance video, revealed that RICHARDSON and another individual attacked the two victims after they exited a convenience store in an attempt to steal marijuana from the victims. RICHARDSON struck one of the victims in the face with a gun.
Officers apprehended RICHARSON near the scene of the robbery. When RICHARDSON was found, he was bleeding from a gash to his hand where one of the victims had slashed him with a knife in self-defense.
RICHARDSON pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act Robbery, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years, and one count of carrying a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, which carries a mandatory consecutive term of imprisonment of five years. Judge Shea scheduled sentencing for April 25, 2018.
RICHARDSON has been detained since his arrest on June 30, 2016.
This matter is being investigated by the New Haven Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter D. Markle and Jocelyn Courtney Kaoutzanis.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
