Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that SHAQUIL GARY, 31, of New Haven, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 66 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for unlawfully possessing a firearm while on federal supervised release.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in January 2016, Gary was sentenced in New Haven federal court to 96 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release for committing an armed robbery of an ATF informant in August 2014. After pleading guilty to the offense and while awaiting sentencing, Gary attempted to send a copy of a non-public case report to friends and family members with instructions to post it on Facebook and tell others that an individual identified in the report was cooperating with law enforcement officers.
In April 2022, a white SUV was identified as being involved in shooting incidents in New Haven and Hamden. On April 19, 2022, investigators saw Gary exit the SUV after parking it on Shelton Avenue. Gary ran from pursuing officers and discarded a firearm during the chase. Gary was apprehended on Hazel Street, and officers recovered a loaded Glock model 17, 9mm pistol, that he had thrown.
The handgun had been reported stolen in Waterbury in 2018. Subsequent analysis of the gun using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) connected it to multiple gang-related shooting incidents in early 2019 while Gary was incarcerated in federal custody, including a shooting near Eastern Street in New Haven on January 23, 2019, where a suspected member of the Exit 8 gang of New Haven was found suffering from a gunshot wound; a shots fired incident near Eastern Street in New Haven on January 28, 2019, where a witness observed a male firing a handgun from a car and into the front window of an apartment; and the shooting of two individuals near Shelton Avenue in New Haven on February 5, 2019.
Gary’s criminal history also includes state felony convictions for the sale and possession of narcotics. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
On September 4, 2024, Gary pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the New Haven Police Department, and the Hamden Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Dearington.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Justice Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit www.justice.gov/psn.