GREENVILLE – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced that today in federal court, Senior United States District Judge Malcolm J. Howard sentenced RAMEIK DESEN ANDERSON, 23, to 96 months of imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release. 

 

ANDERSON was named in a 1-count Indictment filed on June 15, 2017.  On September 11, 2017, ANDERSON subsequently pled guilty to one-count of Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition by a Felon.

 

The evidence developed during the investigation showed that on Wednesday, January 4, 2017, at 5:30 a.m., ANDERSON fired multiple rounds from a 9mm handgun at an occupied residence in Tarboro, North Carolina. Shortly after fleeing the residence, ANDERSON was observed by an officer with Tarboro Police Department (TPD) running a red light and traveling at a high rate of speed away from the area.  The officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle; however, ANDERSON refused to stop, and a vehicle pursuit ensued with the officer operating his lights and siren.  ANDERSON lost control of the vehicle and crashed the vehicle into a ditch.  ANDERSON then jumped out of the vehicle and fled on foot.  ANDERSON was eventually apprehended and arrested after utilizing a K-9 and several officers to assist in searching the nearby wooded area.

 

There were three other occupants in the vehicle at the time of the vehicle crash.  All three occupants were interviewed at the crash site and were consistent with their statements that ANDERSON was driving the vehicle and that they were fleeing the scene of a shooting.  Each occupant stated that ANDERSON pulled into the residence, exited the vehicle, and began firing multiple rounds into the home.  A search of the vehicle recovered a 9mm handgun (with an obliterated serial number and later determined to be stolen), and a .38 caliber handgun.  Both firearms were loaded with live ammunition.  The 9mm was jammed with a spent round lodged into the ejection port of the firearm.  Additionally, a spent bullet casing was found on the driver’s side floorboard.

 

Officers responded to the shooting scene and recovered 11 spent rounds and one unspent 9mm round from the roadway in front of the home.  The homeowner and seven other individuals were in the home at the time of shooting.  None of the occupants were injured.

 

This case was part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative which encourages federal, state, and local agencies to cooperate in a unified “team effort” against gun crime, targeting repeat offenders who continually plague their communities.

 

The Tarboro Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives conducted the criminal investigation of this case.  Assistant United States Attorney Peggah B. Wilson handled the prosecution of this case for the government.