Charlotte Man Is Sentenced To Seven Years In Prison For Possession Of A Firearm By A Felon

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Today, U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. sentenced Everette Josiah Phifer, 30, of Charlotte, to 84 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, announced Dena J. King U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Bennie Mims, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, join U.S. Attorney King in making today's announcement.

According to court documents and court proceedings, in 2016, Phifer was convicted in North Carolina of Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury and served a term of imprisonment. As a result of the conviction, Phifer is prohibited from possessing firearms. Court documents show that between February 7, 2022, and March 5, 2022, Phifer illegally possessed a firearm. Specifically, on March 5, 2022, CMPD officers responded to a 911 call for a shooting at an apartment complex in Charlotte. When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered that at least 79 shots had been fired from multiple guns, and an innocent resident of the complex had been struck and killed by a stray bullet.

Witnesses directed law enforcement to a particular apartment within the complex believed to be connected to the shooting. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at that apartment. Phifer was located inside along with a quantity of fentanyl pills and several firearms, including an SKS rifle and a loaded Glock handgun with an undermount laser hidden inside a toilet tank, and ammunition. Phifer's cell phone was also seized and analyzed. Law enforcement recovered from the cell phone photos of Phifer with the same SKS rifle that was found in the apartment, and a video that showed the same Glock handgun also seized from the apartment.

On June 23, 2023, Phifer pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In January 2024, Marcus Alexander Allen, another individual connected to the March 5th shooting and the apartment where Phifer was found, was sentenced to seven years in prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon committed on March 5, 2022.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney King thanked the ATF and CMPD for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Sielaff of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.