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Louisiana Man Sentenced to More than 13 Years on Carjacking and Weapons Charges

Louisiana – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that defendant Kahliq Williams of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced to 164 months (13 years, 8 months) in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Greg G. Guidry on May 31, 2022.

• The Court sentenced Williams to 80 months in prison on Counts 1, 3, and 4, to be served concurrently.
• Williams was sentenced to 84 months in prison for Count 2, to be served concurrently with the terms imposed on Counts 1, 3, and 4.
• Furthermore, upon his release from prison, Judge Guidry ordered that Williams be placed on supervised release for a period of five years, consisting of three years for Counts 1, 3, and 4, and five years for Count 2, with the terms running concurrently.
• Finally, on Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the six-count indictment, Williams was ordered to pay a total of $400 in mandatory special assessment fees.

Counts One and Four of the indictment charged Williams with two separate carjackings, both in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2119(1). Count 2 charged Williams with brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, that is, a carjacking, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Section, 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). Finally, Count Three charged Williams with burglary of a federal firearms licensee, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(u).

Williams pled guilty to two carjackings that occurred on April 16, 2020 and May 19, 2020, according to court documents. Both carjackings occurred in New Orleans, and Williams admitted to taking the vehicles from the victims while brandishing a firearm during the commission of the carjackings in both cases. In addition, on April 17, 2020, at approximately 1:16 AM, St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to C&S Gun Parlor in Covington, LA in response to a burglary alarm. C&S Gun Parlor is a federally licensed firearms dealer. When deputies arrived, they discovered that the front entrance had been damaged. Deputies noticed that a vehicle appeared to have rammed the front entrance.

Investigators reviewed surveillance video footage from the store’s interior and exterior and discovered a Chevrolet pick-up truck driving the rear end of the vehicle through the front entrance, breaking a poll, glass doors, glass windows, and the metal gate. Three people dressed in hoodies, masks, and gloves exited the vehicle and began throwing rifles and handguns into the bed of the pick-up truck. A total of 45 weapons were stolen from the store. Williams was apprehended in Jefferson Parish, and several of the stolen firearms were discovered in his possession. In addition to admitting his involvement in the respective carjackings, he also admitted his involvement in the gun store burglary.

This case was being prosecuted as part of the federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s efforts to reduce violent crime. PSN is an evidence-based program that has been shown to reduce violent crime. PSN brings together a diverse range of stakeholders to identify the most pressing violent crime issues in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and collaborates with community-based prevention and reentry programs to achieve long-term crime reductions.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the New Orleans Police Department, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Department, and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Inga Petrovich of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Violent Crime Unit.

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