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Bridgeport resident Jachim Brown, also known as “Ameer Edwards” was sentenced to 260 months in prison after he was found guilty of four counts of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
In addition to his prison term, Brown was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney John Durham said that on Sept. 27, 2017, Brown, donning a mask and gun, entered Nikita’s Bar on Iranistan Avenue in Bridgeport, pointing a gun at the only employee working at the time. Brown instructed the employee to go behind the bar to retrieve a key to a safe.
After the employee complied, Brown opened the safe and stole approximately $2,450, Durham said. During this robbery, the car of Brown’s half-brother, Eric Chambers, was spotted on surveillance video driving past the entrance to the bar. Chambers had previously worked security at the bar.
In November that year, a gun-wielding Brown robbed an employee at Avenue Restaurant who was couriering approximately $2,000 in cash to Bishop’s Corner Café on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport.
Surveillance video outside Bishop’s Corner again revealed Chambers’ car in close vicinity to the robbery, Durham noted.
On Nov. 13, 2017, the same employee, who had delegated his money courier responsibilities to another security guard after the earlier robbery, was again confronted by Brown. When Brown realized that the employee did not have the cash, he shot the employee in the thigh.
The following day, on Nov. 14, 2017, Brown entered a Main Street bar in Stratford, and walked directly to a bin near the cash register that typically contained approximately 80 envelopes with cash payments for employees of the Bar Restaurant and other establishments.
Brown stole the bin, pointed his gun at one employee’s head, and turned and fired at a second employee who had his hands raised, hitting the second employee in his stomach.
Video showed that Brown had been dropped off behind the restaurant by Chambers.
According to Durham, shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 16, 2017, officers from the Bridgeport Police Department received reports of an armed robbery in progress at EBLens on Pequonnock Street in Bridgeport.
As he exited the store, an officer chased Brown on foot as he attempted to get into Chambers’ car.
Durham said Brown fired several shots at the officer, with police returning fire. Brown was eventually tackled and taken into custody and placed under arrest.
At the time of his arrest, Brown was in possession of a P25 .25 ACP caliber handgun. Further analysis of the weapon determined that it had also been used in the shootings of the two individuals on Nov. 13 and 14 that year.
Chambers, 36, also of Bridgeport, was found guilty by a jury last year of four counts of aiding and abetting in Hobbs Act robbery. Durham said he is currently awaiting sentencing.
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