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Mount Vernon resident Christopher Smith, also known as "Christopher Johnson," "Mad Max," "Max," and "Trouble," was sentenced on Thursday, May 9 to eight years in prison for two shootings and an armed carjacking that took place in Westchester and the Bronx, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
According to federal officials, the first of these incidents happened in September 2022, when Smith went up to a group of men standing outside a Yonkers convenience store and asked them to sell drugs for him. When the group refused, Smith then took out a black handgun with a light blue handle, causing the men to disperse.
Smith and a friend then drove away in the friend's black Mercedes-Benz. Around a half-hour later, Smith and his friend went back to the area where the group had been and found them again.
Smith soon entered into an argument with the group before firing his gun twice in their vicinity. He and his friend then sped off in the Mercedes-Benz, officials said.
Around 30 minutes after this, authorities stopped the Mercedes-Benz in Mount Vernon. Instead of complying with officers though, Smith jumped onto his friend's lap in the driver's seat to try and drive the vehicle into the police cruiser to flee the scene. When this did not work, police opened the driver's side door and arrested Smith's friend.
However, Smith was able to run away with his gun in his pocket, leading police on a half-hour chase on foot. Eventually, Smith saw a 70-year-old woman leaving a nearby church who was putting her belongings in her jeep and shouted at her to give him her keys.
He then forcibly grabbed the keys from her hands, got into the Jeep, and sped off, taking her personal belongings with him, officials said.
Around two months after this incident, in November 2022, Smith got into an argument with his friend of over a decade inside their Bronx apartment. After fighting about low-quality narcotics, Smith left the apartment.
A short time later though, Smith reappeared on the apartment's outside balcony with a handgun and lifted the window scree, aiming it at his friend's head. He then fired one shot, which his friend avoided by ducking.
After the shooting, Smith ran away from the apartment, according to federal officials.
In addition to his eight-year sentence, Smith will also be required to serve three years of supervised release.
US Attorney Damian Williams condemned Smith's reckless actions, saying, "He put New Yorkers’ lives in jeopardy and brazenly flouted the rule of law."
"This Office remains steadfast in its commitment to ending the scourge of gun violence on the streets of New York City and will continue to hold accountable those who endanger public spaces," Williams continued.
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