Jahmez Tavaughn Jackson, Gun Possession by Convicted Felon, North Carolina 2024

A Wilmington man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after he fired a sawed-off rifle at another person near a school and led officers on a high-speed chase.

Jahmez Tavaughn Jackson, 24, pled guilty to the charge on May 22, 2024.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Jackson fired a 9mm sawed-off rifle multiple times at another individual on February 22, 2023, at the intersection of 6th Street and Campbell Street in Wilmington, just over 200 feet away from the Roger Bacon Douglas Academy, a K-5 charter school, where children were present.

No one was injured during the shooting, though a vehicle parked at the school was struck by one of the bullets. Four additional shell casings were found on scene.

Officers located Jackson driving a vehicle in Pender County shortly thereafter and attempted a traffic stop. Jackson fled from law enforcement officers at high rates of speed—as fast as 118 mph—and tossed the gun out of the car window.

Eventually, Jackson lost control and crashed the vehicle into a median. A search of the vehicle yielded marijuana and oxycodone along with drug paraphernalia. Jackson’s phone contained evidence of his involvement in the drug trade along with photos in which he posed with firearms, including the sawed-off rifle used in the shooting.

Jackson has been convicted of several felony offenses in the past, including assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, felon in possession of a firearm, attempted first degree burglary, and attempted second degree kidnapping. He was on state probation and wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the federal offense.

‘This Crip gang member was a one-man crime spree, firing shots towards a Wilmington charter school and leading police on a high-speed chase topping 118 mile per hour,’ said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. ‘The new Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is built for cases just like this and got this felon 15 years in federal prison.’

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