Rocky Mount Felon Sentenced for Illegal Firearm Possession in High-Speed Chase

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – A Rocky Mount man was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison for possessing a short-barreled rifle without a serial number following a high-speed chase that endangered the lives of a child and a puppy.

Chi-Ali Bunn, 29, pled guilty to the charge on September 26, 2023. According to U.S. Attorney Michael Easley, ‘Bunn fled police in a high-speed chase exceeding 111 miles per hour with guns, drugs, and a kid in the car.’

The pursuit began when Bunn, a felon, avoided a Nash County Sheriff’s Office license check station in January 2023. Reaching speeds of up to 111 mph, he ran stop signs, drove on the wrong side of the road, and narrowly missed other vehicles during the chase.

Unknown to law enforcement, a young child and a small puppy were traveling with Bunn. The chase ended when Wake County Sheriff’s deputies deployed stop sticks, flattening two tires of Bunn’s vehicle. Inside, they found a loaded 9mm handgun, a .223 caliber rifle, a drum magazine, Oxycodone pills, cocaine residue, and a digital scale.

U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced Bunn after the case was investigated by the Nash and Wake County Sheriff’s Offices and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Aubart prosecuted the case.

‘We will keep up our partnership with local law enforcement to get illegal guns out of dangerous hands like Bunn’s,’ Easley said. Sheriff Keith Stone added, ‘Dedicated law enforcement and prosecutors make safe communities.’