Source: United States Department of Justice News
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man involved in two separate shootings on the same day has been sentenced in federal court for illegally possessing firearms.
Deion D. Alford, 22, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs on Tuesday, Aug. 30, to six years and 10 months in federal prison without parole.
On March 7, 2022, Alford pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms. By pleading guilty, Alford admitted he was in possession of a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun and a Glock .40-caliber handgun on February 3, 2021. Alford was also involved in two shootings, one of which resulted in injury to a victim.
On the afternoon of January 28, 2021, Kansas City, Mo. police officers responded to a shots-fired call in the area of East 40th Street and South Benton Avenue. Officers contacted a victim, who was in the driver’s seat of a white pickup and had been shot in his left leg. A nearby residence had also been struck by errant gunfire. Officers recovered six nine-millimeter shell casings near the scene.
Detectives identified Alford as a suspect in the shooting. The owner of the red SUV told detectives that Alford had been driving the SUV at the time of the shooting. The owner also told investigators that Alford had been shot the previous year, and when Alford saw the victim’s car, had stated that was the person who shot him. A shell casing recovered from the red SUV matched the shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting.
Alford was also involved in another shooting later that same day, in the area of East 31st Street and Benton Boulevard. Kansas City, Mo. police officers heard gunshots and received reports that individuals in a red vehicle (later determined to be the same red SUV from the earlier shooting) were firing shots. Officers located a red SUV with multiple bullet holes in its windshield, abandoned in the middle of a nearby street. Witnesses told officers that two individuals had fled the vehicle on foot. Officers found one of the suspects, as well as a Glock handgun nearby. The Glock was later linked to 9 mm shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting, as well as 9 mm shell casings found in the back seat of the red SUV. During her interview, the owner of the red SUV told detectives that Alford had borrowed her SUV prior to the second shooting.
Alford was arrested a week later, at his grandmother’s house. When officers searched the residence they found a backpack that contained the loaded Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun and the loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun.
According to court documents, Alford was affiliated with the Click Clack/Foot Soldier gang.
Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearms or ammunition. In December 2017, Alford was convicted in Iowa state court of first-degree theft and felony eluding, related to his distribution of stolen cars. Two months later, in February 2018, while on probation in connection with the Iowa case, Alford was arrested in Jackson County, Mo., for possessing a stolen gun, resulting in a felony conviction for receiving stolen property. Evidence in that case indicates Alford had also been firing the gun. Alford also has a number of misdemeanor convictions for charges ranging from fleeing police, obstructing/resisting arrest, providing false information, and unlawful use of a weapon. Alford’s convictions involve multiple instances of flight from law enforcement, including several high-speed pursuits, as well as brandishing and firing guns and other violent conduct.
According to court documents, Alford has been involved in multiple physical altercations with other inmates while in custody pending sentencing in this case.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Byron H. Black and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie C. Bradshaw. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
KC Metro Strike Force
This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.