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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that defendant KAHLIQ WILLIAMS, of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced on May 31, 2022 by U.S. District Court Judge Greg G. Guidry to a total term of 164 months.  As to Counts 1, 3, and 4 the Court sentenced WILLIAMS to 80 months of imprisonment, to be served concurrently with each other.   As to Count 2, WILLIAMS was sentenced to a term of 84 months, to be served consecutively to the terms imposed on each of Counts 1, 3, and 4.  Additionally, upon release from imprisonment, Judge Guidry ordered that WILLIAMS shall be on supervised release for a term of 5 years which consists of 3 years as to Counts 1, 3 and 4, and 5 years as to Count 2, such terms to run concurrently with each other.  Finally, WILLIAMS was ordered to pay a total of $400 in mandatory special assessment fees on Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the six-count indictment.

Counts One and Four of the indictment charged WILLIAMS with two separate carjackings,  both in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2119(1).  Count 2 charged WILLIAMS with brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, that is, a carjacking, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Section, 924(c)(1)(A)(ii).  Finally, Count Three charged WILLIAMS with burglary of a federal firearms licensee, in  violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(u).

According to filed documents, WILLIAMS pled guilty to two carjackings which occurred on April 16, 2020, and May 19, 2020.  Both carjackings occurred in New Orleans, and in both instances, WILLIAMS admitted to taking the vehicles from the respective victims while brandishing a firearm during the commission of the carjackings. Additionally, on April 17, 2020, at approximately 1:16 AM, deputies with St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to C&S Gun Parlor in Covington, LA in response to a burglary alarm. C&S Gun Parlor is designated as a federal firearm licensee.  Deputies arrived to find the front entrance damaged.  Specifically, deputies noted that it appeared that a vehicle had rammed the front entrance.  Investigators reviewed surveillance video footage from the interior and exterior of the store and observed a Chevrolet pick-up truck drive the rear end of the vehicle through the front entrance of the business, breaking a poll, glass doors, glass windows, and the metal gate.  Three individuals wearing hoodies, masks, gloves, exited the vehicle and proceeded to throw rifles and handguns into the bed of the pick-up truck.  Forty-five (45) total weapons were stolen from the store.  WILLIAMS was eventually arrested in Jefferson Parish and several of the stolen firearms were found in his possession.  In addition to admitting his role in the respective carjackings, he also admitted his participation in the burglary of the gun store.

This case was being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives the New Orleans Police Department, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Department, and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Inga Petrovich of the Violent Crime Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.