PHILADELPHIA
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Shamarr Pitts, 26, of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania to 15 years in prison for assault on a federal agent, using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Pitts put a pistol to a detective’s head that resulted in clicking sounds, officials said. Pitts and another suspect had been involved in a nightclub shooting when he shot at police who where at a residence to arrest him, according to officials and a news report.
On February 3, 2015, a federal jury found Pitts guilty of all three counts of the indictment.
On June 4, 2013, officials said the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force arrived in Lansdowne, PA, to arrest Pitts on charges related to a shooting at the Purple Orchid nightclub in Southwest Philadelphia that had occurred weeks earlier.
Uniformed Lansdowne Police had the residence surrounded when the Task Force arrived. Task Force agents and officers initially knocked on the front door of the house and announced their presence.
When no one answered, agents and officers breached the back door, and entered the house.
Officials said a Philadelphia Police detective discovered Pitts hiding behind a closed bedroom door. When the detective pushed the door open, Pitts pointed a silver pistol directly at the detective’s head, pulled the trigger twice generating a clicking sound, but his gun did not discharge.
Pitts also attempted to clear and shoot the weapon again, by pulling the slide back, thus generating more noise.
After being ordered to surrender for several minutes, Pitts eventually complied, according to authorities.
According to a report by NBC 10, this is what happened at the nightclub:
On May 11, 2013 at 1:55 a.m., police say Henry Pettigrew, 21, and Shamarr Pitts got into an argument with management and bouncers at the Purple Orchard Gentleman’s Club on the 3200 block of South 61st Street.
“There was an argument over music,” said Philadelphia Police Lieutenant John Walker.
After the two men were kicked out of the club, police say Pettigrew returned minutes later, armed with an AK-47. Surveillance captures a man, who police identify as Pettigrew, firing several shots at a car in a parking lot. The video then shows the suspect slipping and falling twice before opening the door of the club and spraying gunfire inside.
“There was an argument over music,” said Philadelphia Police Lieutenant John Walker.
After the two men were kicked out of the club, police say Pettigrew returned minutes later, armed with an AK-47. Surveillance captures a man, who police identify as Pettigrew, firing several shots at a car in a parking lot. The video then shows the suspect slipping and falling twice before opening the door of the club and spraying gunfire inside.