DETROIT – A shooting in broad daylight at a gas station in Detroit has led to federal firearm charges, United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced today.
Ison was joined in the announcement by Acting Special Agent in Charge Craig Kailimai, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
James Taylor, age 27, of Detroit, MI, was arraigned today on an indictment that charged him with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and one count of felon in possession of ammunition. Each count carries a maximum of 10 years imprisonment. The defendant was ordered detained pending trial. The case has been assigned to the Honorable Robert H. Cleland, U.S. District Court Judge, Eastern District of Michigan.
The charges in this case stem from an incident on April 25, 2022. According to an affidavit filed in the case, just after 7:00 pm, Taylor was caught on a surveillance camera firing shots at the driver of another vehicle at a gas station located near Livernois and Waverly Street in Detroit. After the other driver fled from his vehicle, Taylor circled around the gas station several times in an apparent effort to look for the other driver. Taylor then took the other driver’s car from the gas station. Fortunately, no one was injured during the incident. Taylor, who was on pretrial release in Wayne County for a different felony offense, was on tether at the time of the shooting.
“The type of brazen behavior alleged in this case is shocking, and it is a miracle that someone was not injured or killed,” U.S. Attorney Ison said. “We will not tolerate it any longer. My office will work closely with our federal partners, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Detroit Police Department to ensure the most violent are taken off the street. This is an example of that type of coordination.”
“Crime gun intelligence utilized in this case illustrates ATF’s priorities on effectively identifying and removing violent criminals from our communities,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Craig Kailimai. “The efforts of our federal, state, tribal, and local partnerships have had a significant impact on reducing the threat of gun violence.”
The United States Attorney’s Office and the ATF are focused on prosecuting those individuals who are using firearms to commit violent acts against people in the Eastern District of Michigan. The strategy is a part of the United States Attorney’s Office’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative. PSN continues to be the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders works together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. PSN is an evidence-based program that focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs to pursue lasting reductions in crime.
An indictment is only a formal charging document and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was investigated by ATF with the assistance from the Detroit Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys assigned to the Violent and Organized Crime Unit within the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.