Two brothers have been indicted for using buses and Uber vehicles to smuggle firearms from South Carolina to New York City, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced Wednesday.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance and New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said half-brothers Shavar Stuckey, 31, and Levon Jackson, 30, were indicted for selling 105 guns and loads of ammunition to an uncover NYPD officer.
Four others were also charged in the indictment: Devon Heatley, 32, and three residents of South Carolina–Troy Allen, 32, Shakial Shephard, 22, and Liq’uel Robinson, 19. Those defendants have been charged with supplying firearms for illegal sales.
“Today marks the third time in the past year that I have stood with our partners at the NYPD in front of a cache of deadly weapons funneled into New York from an Iron Pipeline state,” said District Attorney Vance. “In this case, like others before it, discount buses were the vehicles of choice for transporting weapons north along the I-95 corridor. Prosecutions like these are exactly how gun crime in New York City fell to historic lows: local enforcement of some of the strongest gun laws in the country.”
Heatley and the South Carolina men would allegedly buy the firearms from sellers in the South and would then use buses to transport them to Chinatown in New York City. Stuckey and Jackson would then take the firearms to the Bronx and Harlem using Uber cars and other cabs.
“The South Carolina residents would allegedly transport the guns to Stuckey and Jackson usually via the Chinatown bus lines and in doing so endangering the passengers, the drivers and the residents in Chinatown alike,” Vance said. “After they arrived in Lower Manhattan, it’s alleged they would hail an Uber or take a subway uptown to Stuckey and Jackson.”
According to the indictment, the brothers sold 105 firearms to the undercover officer between December 2015 and March 2017. The firearms included 75 semi-automatic pistols, 21 revolvers, four shotguns and five assault rifles, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Stuckey and Jackson are currently being held without bail, and Heatley’s bail was set at $5,000 bond or $250,000 cash. The South Carolina defendants are waiting for extradition.
During the announcement, District Attorney Vance also took the opportunity to condemn the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which he called a “threat to the public safety of New York.”
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