ATF and HSTF 13-count superseding indictment returned after investigation into Sinaloa Cartel-linked weapons scheme

AMARILLO, Texas — United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould announced that a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment Sept. 24 charging Loyd Walter Hall, aka “Jamie Hall” and “James William,” and multiple co‑defendants with conspiring to provide firearms to the Sinaloa Cartel, trafficking controlled substances and engaging in a series of illegal straw‑purchase and firearms‑trafficking schemes.

ATF’s Dallas Field Division conducted the investigation with significant assistance from Homeland Security Investigations Dallas, local law enforcement partners, and members of the High‑Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces.

Hall and co‑defendants Jesus Quezada Meza, Omar Velasquez and Catlynn Ann Townsend were indicted June 25. The superseding indictment adds a fifth defendant, Johnnie Wayne Corbett, 42, of Amarillo, who was arrested by Federal agents on Oct. 17.

“Those who arm violent cartels are helping fuel a cycle of bloodshed, drug trafficking, and destruction that threatens communities on both sides of the border. ATF Dallas will not allow firearms traffickers to exploit our laws to strengthen the arsenal of criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel, said ATF Dallas Field Division Special Agent in Charge Brian Garner. “Through the Homeland Security Task Force, we are relentlessly targeting these networks, cutting off their access to weapons, and pursuing those responsible until they are held accountable.”

“The defendants supplied powerful rifles and ammunition to the Sinaloa Cartel—one of the most violent criminal organizations in the world,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “By pursuing material support of terrorism charges, we are making clear that arming cartels is a direct threat to U.S. national security. Under Attorney General Blanche’s leadership, the Trump Administration has deployed an all of government strategy to destroy these terrorist networks. Our office will use every federal tool available to dismantle the cartels and aggressively prosecute anyone who enables their violence.”

Overview of the Charges

The charges in the superseding indictment include:

Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization: The indictment alleges that Hall coordinated to supply firearms, ammunition, and related equipment to the Sinaloa Cartel—an organization designated by the U.S. Secretary of State as a foreign terrorist organization. This conduct included facilitating access to weapons capable of supporting cartel operations, knowing the organization engages in violent activity, including attacks against law enforcement, rival groups, and civilians.

Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances for Importation into the United States: According to the charges, defendants participated in a drug‑trafficking conspiracy involving fentanyl, heroin and cocaine intended for illegal importation into the United States. The indictment describes a distribution network that coordinated with cartel‑linked actors to manufacture and transport significant quantities of controlled substances across international borders, furthering the flow of dangerous drugs into American communities.

Using and Possessing a Firearm in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking Crimes: Hall allegedly possessed and transported firearms, including semiautomatic assault weapons, to facilitate narcotics trafficking activities. These weapons were allegedly used to protect drug shipments, enforce cartel directives, and enable violent confrontations.

Conspiracy to Traffic Firearms: The indictment details coordinated schemes to ship, transport and transfer firearms across state and international borders, knowing the weapons would be used in felony activity. According to the charges, the defendants’ actions helped sustain a supply chain that moved U.S.‑purchased firearms into the hands of criminal organizations, including cartel‑linked actors operating in Mexico.

Conspiracy to Straw Purchase Firearms: The indictment alleges that defendants coordinated with one another to recruit and use straw purchasers to obtain weapons that the true recipients could not legally acquire. This included selecting targeted firearms dealers, choosing specific high‑powered weapons and directing straw buyers to falsely claim they were the actual purchasers, enabling the covert movement of firearms to criminal associates.

Making False Statements to Firearms Dealers: According to the indictment, defendants knowingly submitted false ATF Form 4473s and other fraudulent statements to federally licensed firearms dealers, misrepresenting the identity of the actual firearm buyers and concealing the intended transfer of the weapons. These false statements were allegedly designed to evade federal safeguards and facilitate the acquisition of firearms later intended for movement across state lines and, in some cases, toward the U.S.–Mexico border.

Status of Defendants

• Defendants Hall, Quezada Meza, and Velasquez remain in federal custody.
• Townsend has been issued a summons.
• Corbett is in federal custody. He had his initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge today.

If convicted, Hall faces up to a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. Meza and Velasquez each face up to 15 years in federal prison. Townsend and Corbett each face up to five years in federal prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colleen Bloss and Marbel Munoz from the Narcotics/HSTF/Asset Forfeiture section are prosecuting the case.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting, the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

HSTF Dallas comprises agents and officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Explosives, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, United States Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, and United States Secret Service in partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety, City of Dallas Police Department, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement entities.

Public safety initiative leads to over 100 arrests in the Piedmont Triad area

 Law enforcement agencies targeted criminal activity hotspots for three months

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A three-month public safety surge operation targeting violent crime and trafficking networks within the Piedmont Triad has resulted in 104 arrests, the seizure of 163 firearms, 102 machinegun conversion devices, and more than 37 kilograms of illegal narcotics. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) led the intelligence driven effort, called Operation Piedmont Pipeline, in partnership with state and local law enforcement agencies from across the Piedmont Triad region.

“Public safety surge initiatives bring together federal, state and local law enforcement partners to identify violent offenders, disrupt illegal firearms activity and help protect neighborhoods,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Alicia Jones. “The key component here is shared intelligence. State and local partners have incredible input on prevalent crime issues within the Piedmont area. Combining their information with the federal resources and intelligence allows us to more effectively identify the individuals and networks responsible for local violent crime.”

“Our prosecutors thank and commend our state and federal partners, especially ATF,” said Dan Bishop, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of N.C. “We are pleased to have moved these cases rapidly to indictment. The tangible symbols of these seizures bespeak an important message to other persons who illegally possess or traffic in guns and drugs in the 24 counties of the Middle District of North Carolina: we will add you to the pile.”

Operation Piedmont Pipeline launched in June, focused on High Point, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and surrounding areas with high densities of violent crime, firearms trafficking, and drug activity. ATF and partnering law enforcement agencies combined investigative resources, including crime-gun analysis and ballistics tracing, to identify narcotics and firearms traffickers and illegal possessors. The results of the three-month operation include:

• 75 criminal investigations, leading to criminal charges against 104 defendants
• 72 Federal defendants and 32 State defendants for firearms and narcotics offenses
• 229 ATF operations and 46 Federal and State search warrants
• 163 firearms and 102 machinegun conversion devices seized
• over 37 kg of illegal narcotics seized (cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl)

Partnering agencies include Greensboro Police Department, High Point Police Department, Winston-Salem Police Department, Asheboro Police Department, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, Caswell County Sheriff’s Office, Alamance County Sheriff’s Office, DEA and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigations.

“Combining federal investigative resources with the local knowledge and community connections that our police departments and sheriff’s offices have available helps build a better strategy at taking down criminal networks,” said Greensboro Police Chief Kamran Afzal. “Initiatives like this not only lead to significant arrests and charges, but also provide a sustainable plan to prevent violent crime.”

“Violent crime doesn't stop at city limits or county lines, and our response can't either,” said High Point Police Chief Curtis Cheeks III. “By working closely with federal partners and local agencies, we're ensuring we tackle violent crime at the source. This coordinated enforcement holds offenders accountable and helps protect the entire Piedmont Triad community."

ATF offers $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Brandon Joshua Mallory

 

ATF offers $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Brandon Joshua Mallory

MACON, Ga. – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Atlanta Field Division, is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Brandon Joshua Mallory in connection with an October 4, 2026, fire at an occupied residence at 3649 Case Street in Macon. Mallory is a 31-year-old Black male, born June 15, 1995. He is approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 168 pounds.

^{Brandon Joshua Mallory is wanted in connection with an October 4, 2026, fire at an occupied residence in Macon, Ga.}

Mallory is wanted in Bibb County, Georgia, for aggravated assault, arson in the first degree, criminal damage to property in the second degree, cruelty to children in the first degree (felony), and terroristic threats. These charges are allegations; Mallory is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

At approximately 4:19 a.m. on October 4, Bibb County firefighters responded to the residential fire. Four children were inside the home when the fire began and escaped through a window. No serious injuries were reported.

ATF and Macon/Bibb County fire investigators examined the scene and determined that the fire originated in the southeast section of the front porch, on the west side of the residence.

According to witness statements provided to investigators, Mallory was seen on the front porch attempting to enter the home shortly before the fire and was seen running away after the children escaped. Investigators also received information that Mallory had sent threatening text messages to the resident before the fire.

Anyone with information about Mallory’s whereabouts or this incident should contact ATF at 1-888-ATF-TIPS (1-888-283-8477) or email ATFTips@atf.gov. Anonymous tips may also be submitted through the report it® app or at https://mobile.reportit.com/ by selecting the Atlanta Field Division. Reference Macon/Bibb Case No. 202689261.

ATF offers $5,000 reward for information in deadly Albany shooting

NEW YORK — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for an October 4, 2026, shooting in Albany that left one person dead and three others injured.

At approximately 2:30 a.m., Albany Police Department officers responded to reports of a shooting near the intersection of Hudson Avenue and Partridge Street. Four individuals were struck by gunfire, one of whom later died from their injuries.

ATF is working alongside the Albany Police Department to investigate this shooting, identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact the Albany Police Department at 518-462-8039.

ATF offers $5,000 reward in Montana pawn shop burglary

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Denver Field Division, alongside the Bozeman Police Department and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the burglary of Debo’s Pawn Shop, a federal firearms licensee.

At approximately 6:39 a.m. on Sept. 27, a lone suspect broke a window to gain entry into the business. The suspect took a firearm and fled prior to the arrival of Bozeman police officers.

The burglary is being investigated jointly by the Bozeman Police Department and the ATF Denver Field Division’s Billings Field Office. The NSSF, the trade association for the firearms industry, is matching the ATF reward as part of a cooperative effort to curb gun thefts from licensed dealers.

Anyone with information about this investigation should contact ATF at (888) ATF-TIPS (1-888-283-8477). Information can also be sent to ATFTips@atf.gov or through ATF’s website at www.atf.gov/contact/atf-tips. Tips can be submitted anonymously using the Reportit® app, available from both Google Play and the Apple App store, or by visiting www.reportit.com. All tips may be submitted anonymously.

ATF protects American communities from violent crime driven by the illegal use of firearms, explosives, and acts of arson. Through crime gun intelligence, forensic, analysis, and relentless investigation, we identify and arrest violent offenders and gang members, dismantle trafficking networks, and sever the supply chains arming cartels, prohibited persons, and terrorist organizations. We defend the rights of law-abiding citizens by safeguarding lawful commerce and upholding the Constitution of the United States. Learn more about what ATF is doing to reduce violent crime in your community by following us on X @ATFHQ, Instagram @ATFHQ, LinkedIn @ATF, and Facebook @HQATF, or on the web at www.atf.gov.

DEA to Host 31st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 24th

WASHINGTON, DC –The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, in collaboration with more than 4,300 law enforcement partners, will host the 31st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

More than 4,400 collection sites will be set up across the country to dispose of unneeded, expired, and unused prescription medications. This is a simple step that prevents diversion, reduces the risk of accidental poisonings, and helps protect communities.

“Since 2010, Take Back Day has helped Americans remove more than twenty million pounds of unneeded medications from their homes,” said DEA Administrator Terry Cole. “By participating in Take Back Day, you are preventing potentially addictive medications from falling into the wrong hands – a small step that can save lives. I am grateful to the thousands of law enforcement and community partners who make these events possible, and I urge everyone to take a few minutes on Saturday, October 24, to clean out your medicine cabinets.”

What will be collected

• Tablets, capsules, patches, and other forms of prescription medications
• Liquid medications securely sealed in their original containers

What won’t be collected

• Syringes, sharps, and illicit drugs

Why it matters

• Prescription opioids, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, and morphine, are among the most frequently misused prescription pain medications, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
•  Removing unneeded medications from the home reduces the risk of misuse or accidental ingestion.

Visit www.DEATakeBack.com to find a registered Take Back location near you. If you are unable to participate in this fall’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, there are more than 15,300 pharmacies, hospitals, and businesses that offer safe medication disposal year-round. In addition, many police departments also provide permanent drop boxes to ensure Every Day is Take Back Day.

 

 

Before Body Cameras, There Was Your Word

Before body cameras, there was your word.

That sounds nostalgic. Coming from an old cop, maybe it even sounds a little self-serving. There was a time when an officer went into court and testified about what he saw, what he heard and what he did. There might be photographs, physical evidence and other witnesses, but there wasn't a little camera attached to his chest recording the encounter.

Your credibility mattered. Your reputation mattered. Your word mattered. Then came body cameras, and it became tempting to see the two eras as opposites. Before cameras, we had to trust police officers. Now we have video, so we don't have to. The camera became an independent witness capable of telling us what "really happened."

Except it isn't quite that simple. What body cameras proved wasn't that we were liars. They proved that we were human beings.

I spent my entire police career without a body camera. When something happened, I observed it, reacted to it and later wrote down what I remembered. I tried to be accurate and complete. If I testified months or sometimes years later, I refreshed my memory from the report I had written shortly after the incident. But no matter how honest I was, I was still working with the equipment nature gave me: two eyes, two ears and a human brain.

Human beings don't record events. We experience them.

Imagine an officer walking into a dark alley. A man suddenly turns toward him with something in his hand. The officer sees the shape, the movement and the way the object is being held, and he believes he is looking at a handgun. Later, the body-camera recording is enlarged. Someone freezes the image and advances it frame by frame. At precisely the right moment, with the benefit of a computer screen and unlimited time, it becomes apparent that the object wasn't a gun. It was a remote control.

Does that mean the officer lied when he said he saw a gun? No. It means the camera recorded a remote control while the officer perceived a gun. Those are not necessarily mutually exclusive facts.

The distinction matters because the officer in that alley doesn't get freeze-frame. He doesn't get rewind. He doesn't get to enlarge the image or watch the encounter repeatedly from the comfort of an office. Most importantly, he doesn't know what happens next. The person reviewing the video usually does, and that knowledge inevitably changes the way the event is viewed.

That doesn't make the camera wrong. In fact, that's precisely why body cameras are so valuable. They capture things an officer misses. They preserve words that people remember differently. They establish sequences that may become confused during a stressful event and record actions outside an officer's immediate focus. Sometimes they prove an officer's recollection was mistaken, and sometimes they prove an officer wasn't telling the truth. That matters, too.

But the existence of video shouldn't cause us to confuse inaccurate perception with dishonesty. Memory, perception and truthfulness are related, but they aren't identical.

Police work provides an unusually intense example of this problem because officers routinely make decisions under stress. Attention can narrow. One detail can dominate while something seemingly obvious goes unnoticed. Two officers standing only a few feet apart can experience the same event and later remember portions of it differently without either one lying.

Body cameras didn't create that problem. They exposed it.

For generations, police officers were trained to observe. We were supposed to notice clothing, faces, license plates, weapons, direction of travel and a hundred other things. Good observation was part of the craft, and so was good report writing. An officer's credibility could determine whether an arrest resulted in a conviction and whether a jury believed anything else he had to say. That made your word enormously important. It did not make your perception infallible.

Nor is a camera infallible in quite the way we sometimes imagine. A body camera records from its own position, not from behind the officer's eyes. It has a particular field of view. Its microphone may capture something the officer didn't consciously register. Its lens may record something at the edge of the frame while the officer's attention is fixed somewhere else. Conversely, an officer may see something that never appears clearly on the recording.

The camera has no fear, training or expectations. It doesn't know that a particular movement resembles something an officer has encountered before. It doesn't interpret what it records. The human being, on the other hand, is constantly interpreting what he sees and hears because he has to decide what it means and, sometimes, what to do about it.

That is why I don't think the history of body cameras should be reduced to a transition from "trust the cop" to "trust the video." What changed was that policing acquired another witness, one with remarkable strengths but also limitations. Body cameras have increased accountability, protected citizens from misconduct, protected officers from false accusations and given us a record of things that human beings simply didn't see or didn't remember correctly.

But when the camera and the officer disagree, dishonesty is only one possible explanation. The camera may establish that the object in a man's hand was a remote control, while the officer can truthfully say that in a dark alley, during the fraction of a second in which he had to make a decision, he believed it was a gun. One tells us what the object actually was. The other tells us what a human being perceived when he had to act. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

Before body cameras, there was our word. The arrival of the camera didn't prove that our word was worthless, and it certainly didn't prove that every discrepancy was a lie. What it proved, perhaps more clearly than anything else, was something we should have understood all along: the police officer behind the badge was still a human being.

The camera didn't prove he was lying. It proved he was human.

ATF offers reward following the recovery of destructive devices in New Mexico

ATF seeks public help following incidents in northern New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M.— The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the placement and/or use of suspected destructive devices in the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico. The items recovered in these incidents are more commonly referred to as improvised explosive or incendiary devices.

Between April 2, and May 8, 2026, multiple suspected destructive devices were recovered near the Tres Piedras Ranger Station in Tres Piedras, New Mexico. On August 10, 2026, an additional device was turned in to the Canjilon Ranger Station in Canjilon, New Mexico by a concerned citizen who reported to have found it.

The U.S. Forest Service and local law enforcement initially responded to each incident and requested further assistance from the ATF Phoenix Field Division. As a result, ATF Certified Explosives Specialists and Certified Fire Investigators collected evidence from the scenes which are now undergoing forensic examination at the ATF Forensic Science Laboratory. ATF is now the leading investigating law enforcement agency and continues to work alongside our local and federal law enforcement partners.

ATF reminds the public never to handle suspicious objects. Improvised explosive and incendiary devices can be extremely unstable and cause severe injury or property damage. Anyone who finds a suspicious item should immediately leave the area and call local law enforcement.

Anyone with information about these incidents should contact ATF at (888) ATF-TIPS (1-888-283-8477). Information can also be sent to ATFTips@atf.gov or through ATF’s website at www.atf.gov/contact/atftips. Tips can be submitted anonymously using the Reportit® app, available from both Google Play and the Apple App store, or by visiting www.reportit.com.

Pair Accused of Shooting at St. Louis Police, ATF

ST. LOUIS – Two men have been accused of shooting at St. Louis Metropolitan police officers and ATF agents last month.

Justin R. Price, 19, and Alexavier Bishop, 19, both of Florissant, were charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Thursday with aiding and abetting the assault of federal agents and aiding and abetting the discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Price appeared in court Friday. Bishop is in custody.

The officers and agents were conducting a traffic stop at Oriole and Thekla Avenues in St. Louis on July 28 when just after 9 p.m. a Ford Fusion stopped about one block away and someone fired 12 shots with an automatic weapon. Police pursued the Fusion, which was abandoned in the 1500 block of Sells Avenue. An affidavit filed in support of the complaint says that Bishop, Price and one other person were in the Fusion but escaped, the affidavit says.

About 90 minutes before the shooting, Price and Bishop were spotted pulling on the door handles of parked vehicles in the 1700 block of McLaran Avenue, about one mile away, and appeared to be armed, the affidavit says.

“It is a miracle that the police officers, ATF agents and bystanders were not wounded in this incident,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “You can be assured that we are treating this assault with the utmost seriousness. We are grateful for the hard work of investigators and the assistance of the public, and we hope that the public will continue to help us in this ongoing investigation.”

“The fact that no one was struck by the 12 rounds fired at St. Louis police officers and ATF agents that night was extraordinarily fortunate, but it does not diminish the seriousness of this alleged attack,” said ATF Kansas City Field Division Special Agent in Charge Bernard Hansen. “This case reflects the determined work of state, local and federal partners, along with community members who came forward to help. We are especially grateful for SLMPD’s investigative work and for the diligence of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in reviewing the evidence and securing these charges as the investigation continues.”

“An attack on law enforcement is an attack on the people working every day to keep our neighborhoods safe. These arrests demonstrate what is possible when local, state and federal law enforcement work together, supported by a community willing to come forward and help, with a shared commitment to accountability,” said St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J. Tracy. “I am grateful to the many law enforcement partners involved in this investigation, along with our nationally recognized SLMPD Crime Laboratory, for working relentlessly to identify those allegedly responsible and move this case forward.”

Charges set forth in a criminal complaint are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the St. Louis County Police Department, the Alton Police Department and the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office were involved in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D’Agrosa is prosecuting the case.

Georgia Man Sentenced for Gun Charge from 2023 S.C. Trooper Shooting

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Derrick Gathers, 40, of Augusta, Georgia, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for unlawfully possessing a firearm when he shot a patrolman. Eighty months of his 180-month sentence will be served consecutively to his current state sentence. 

According to statements made in court, on Aug. 16, 2023, Lance Corporal Frazier with the South Carolina Highway Patrol (SCHP) stopped Gathers for speeding on Highway 78 in Bamberg County. Gathers gave Trooper Frazier a license and vehicle registration, and Trooper Frazier took those items back to his patrol vehicle to run a routine records check. Trooper Frazier had concerns about the authenticity of the driver’s license, and when Trooper Frazier reapproached the driver’s side of the vehicle to investigate, Gathers pulled out a firearm, shot trooper Frazier in the face, and sped away. Trooper Frazier’s injuries were non-life threatening. A Bamberg County Sheriff’s Department (BCSD) deputy was providing support during the traffic stop, and both officers returned fire at Gather’s fleeing vehicle. Gather’s vehicle was located by law enforcement, including by members of the Bamberg Police Department, SCHP, and BCSD. During the chase, Gathers lost control of the vehicle and crashed in Branchville. Gathers was thereafter taken into custody.

The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant on the vehicle and found a pistol loaded with 9mm ammunition under the brake pedal. SLED confirmed that the pistol found on Gather’s floorboard matched the firearm used to shoot Trooper Frazier.

“This case highlights two realities: law enforcement put their lives at risk every day, and felons with guns pose a serious threat to our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling for the District of South Carolina. “We will continue to support our law enforcement partners by federally prosecuting offenders that put law enforcement and the public’s lives at risk.”

“An attack on law enforcement is an attack on the entire community,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Alicia Jones. “Threats against our law enforcement cannot be tolerated, and ATF will apply every resource we have available to help protect our partners.”

Gathers has previous felony convictions for 3rd degree rape and 2nd degree criminal possession of a weapon out of New York, both of which prevent him from possessing a firearm or ammunition.

United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Gathers to 180 months in federal prison. Eighty months of his 180-month sentence will be served consecutively to his current state sentence. One hundred months of the federal sentence will be served concurrently to the state sentence.  He will also have a three-year term of supervised release following imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. 

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office, the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bamberg Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lamar Fyall prosecuted the case.