Jamel Armfield, 20, already had three felony convictions on his record when he squeezed off nine rounds from a .45-caliber Springfield Armory handgun at the vehicle on Gates Avenue last June, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.
A nearby surveillance camera captured images of the shooting, she said.
Whom Armfield was firing at, and why, were never determined, the U.S. attorney said.
He tried to hide the gun, she added, but Jersey City police found it.
Despite his age, Armfield had already been convicted in Superior Court in Jersey City of drug possession with the intent to distribute it near a school and resisting arrest.
Rather than face trial, he took a deal from the government, pleading guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of both a firearm and ammunition. He'll have to serve just about all of the term because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox sentenced Armfield to three years of supervised release during a videoconference Tuesday from Jersey City.
Honig credited special agents and task force officers of the ATF’s Newark Field Division and Jersey City police with the investigation leading to Armfield’s arrest, plea and sentence, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Agnew of her Organized Crime and Gangs Unit in Newark.
Honig also thanked the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.
This case is part of the Jersey City Violent Crime Initiative, which federal and local law enforcement authorities created in 2018 for “the sole purpose of combating violent crime in and around” the city.
Together, federal, state, county, and local agencies collaborate “to strategize and prioritize the prosecution of violent offenders who endanger the safety of the community,” Honig said.
Participants also include the FBI, the ATF, the DEA, U.S. Marshals, the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, New Jersey State Parole, the Hudson County Jail and the New Jersey State Police Regional Operations and Intelligence Center/Real Time Crime Center.
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