A Chicago man with a history of gun-related convictions has been slammed with a 15-year federal prison term for his role in a deadly shooting and possession of a handgun, officials announced. Andrei Taylor, 27, found himself in cuffs after illegally toting the loaded weapon, which was used in a murder during the Labor Day weekend of 2022.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Taylor was in a stolen Kia Optima when a police squad closed in on the vehicle in Chicago's Near West Side. In a mad dash, Taylor and three others bolted, triggering a foot chase. The convicted felon discarded his gun with an extended magazine in a local's backyard before he could be nabbed by the police. Taylor's rap sheet included three prior firearm-related felonies, making his possession of the weapon that day a serious breach of the law.
The sentencing took place in a federal court in Chicago with U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp Jr. presiding. Taylor previously pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal firearm possession by a convicted felon, a plea that would soon compound with his association in the premeditated murder of Kadaivion Jones. Jones lost his life on a sidewalk in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, struck down by the same brand of bullet that Taylor carried in his ill-gotten firearm.
Officials such as Morris Pasqual, the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Christopher Amon, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, alongside Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, jointly announced the heavy-handed sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elie Zenner, and Simar Khera represented the government during the case. A cornerstone of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, these federal prosecutions are a concentrated effort to rein in violent crimes, particularly where firearms are the tools of such grievous choices.
The Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, a collaborative endeavor across law enforcement, features prominently in addressing the surge of violent crimes. This program, a brainchild to amass community leaders, prosecutors, and law enforcement agents, is a strategic gambit aimed to quell the tide of firearm offences that challenge the peace of communities across America, and specifically within the Northern District of Illinois.
