Source: United States Department of Justice News
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Charlotte man involved in three shooting incidents was sentenced to 10 years in prison today for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. As part of his sentence, Ulondis Raquan Edwards, 23, will also serve three years under court supervision after he is released from prison.
Ronnie Martinez, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in North Carolina and South Carolina, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) join U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.
According to court documents and court proceedings, between December 2020 and January 2021, Edwards was involved in three shooting incidents. The first incident occurred on December 12, 2020, during which Edwards fired two shots at a vehicle occupied by two adults and three young children, including an infant, following an altercation between Edwards and one of the adults. After that shooting, Edwards illegally obtained another handgun which he used on December 29, 2020, to shoot and injure a male victim. According to court records, the victim was crossing the street near the parking of a strip plaza in Charlotte when he was cut off by a vehicle. A man later identified as Edwards leaned out of the passenger side window of the vehicle and fired one shot in the victim’s direction, striking the victim in the leg.
According to filed documents and information presented in court, the third shooting incident occurred on January 18, 2021, a little after 4:30 p.m., at the parking lot of the same strip plaza as the previous shooting. In this incident, the male victim was standing in the parking lot when a vehicle drove toward the victim and a passenger in the vehicle fired multiple shots at the victim. The victim suffered six gunshot wounds and sustained life threatening injuries. Law enforcement arrested Edwards on January 28, 2021, after he was identified as the individual responsible for the shooting. A search warrant was executed at Edwards’s residence and three firearms were seized, including a handgun. According to court records, an analysis by the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) forensically identified the seized handgun as the firearm Edwards used to shoot and injure the two victims.
On February 18, 2022, Edwards pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon. Edwards is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.
This case is a result of an investigation conducted by CMPD’s Crime Gun Suppression Team which includes HSI.
Assistant United States Attorney Regina Pack of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.