What to Know
- A Bronx man is facing charges for harboring a fugitive and making false statements in connection with a shooting that took place last week that left two U.S. Marshals injured and the suspect dead, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
- Grant Grandison, 35, was charged with one count making false statements to federal agents and once count harboring and concealing a person from arrest after allegedly allowing Andre Sterling -- a fugitive wanted for the Nov. 20 shooting of a state trooper in Massachusetts -- to reside in his Bronx apartment.
- One of the two deputy U.S. marshals wounded in a gunfight with a fugitive in New York City has been released from the hospital, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service said Sunday.
A Bronx man is facing charges for harboring a fugitive and making false statements in connection with a shooting that took place last week that left two U.S. Marshals injured and the suspect dead, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
Grant Grandison, 35, was charged with one count making false statements to federal agents and once count harboring and concealing a person from arrest after allegedly allowing Andre Sterling -- a fugitive wanted for the Nov. 20 shooting of a state trooper in Massachusetts -- to reside in his Bronx apartment, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss, United States Marshal for the Southern District of New York Ralph Sozio and Commissioner of the New York City Police Department Dermot Shea jointly announced.
If he is found guilty, Grandison faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each of the charges. Attorney information for Grandison was not immediately known.
Grandison was arrested Friday and will be presented before a judge at some point Monday.
According to the complaint filed, Grandison allegedly lied to the Marshals who were seeking to arrest Sterling by telling them that no one was in the apartment, before Sterling fired multiple rounds at the agents, striking and injuring two Marshals.
Law enforcement agents later interviewed Grandison, who allegedly admitted that he had allowed Sterling to live with him, according to the complaint. Grandison further admitted that Sterling had told him that if anyone was looking for him, he should tell them Sterling was not there.
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“By misleading federal agents, as alleged, the defendant led them into a violent attack. The ensuing shooting not only injured two Deputy U.S. Marshals but is an assault on society,” Shea said in a statement.
Strauss shared similar sentiments further saying: "We are lucky that more law enforcement officers were not injured during the shooting, and it appears that both injured Marshals will recover."
Meanwhile, Sozio said Grandison's actions "dictated" the events that eventually led to the shooting, while calling the Marshals "heroic."
“Unfortunately, and as alleged, the actions of Grandison dictated the events that led to the shooting of two Deputy United States Marshals on that morning in the Bronx. The heroic actions of the Deputy United States Marshals and Task Force Members that day are a true testament to the dangers of entering an unknown location in search of a violent fugitive," Sozio said in a statement.
One of the two deputy U.S. marshals wounded in a gunfight with a fugitive in New York City has been released from the hospital, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service said Sunday.
The officer was released from the hospital on Saturday, the day after the confrontation with fugitive Andre Sterling, the spokesperson, Dave Oney, said. The second officer wounded in the shootout is in good condition but will remain hospitalized for a few more days, Oney said.
Deputies with the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and NYPD members were in the Wakefield section of the Bronx early Friday, where they believed they had found the location of Sterling, a man wanted for shooting a Massachusetts state trooper in the hand during a traffic stop last month.
They showed up at the apartment where they had tracked Sterling around 5:30 a.m. and someone opened the door, three senior law enforcement officials said. Sterling then emerged from a room and started shooting, the officials said. No words were spoken, a senior law enforcement official said.
Five U.S. Marshals returned fire, striking him. Sterling died at the scene, with a senior law enforcement official saying he had been shot more than a dozen times. The senior law enforcement officials said a Glock .9-mm handgun was found under his body; it's not clear if that is the same weapon he allegedly used in the trooper shooting last month.
One senior law enforcement official says the Glock still had five bullets in the clip. It's unclear how many shots Sterling fired in all, but the official tells News 4 the first shot may actually have gone into the barrel of a Marshal's long gun, rendering that weapon useless. The Marshal dropped that weapon and pulled out his side arm to return fire, the senior official says.
A preliminary investigation found more than 20 shell casings at the scene; crime scene experts will sort out the total number of shots fired as well as who fired them, the officials said.
The two shot U.S. Marshals are expected to recover. One was shot in the arm and leg, the other wounded in the leg. The NYPD detective suffered a leg injury while helping one of the wounded Marshals away from the scene, officials said. Video shows the injured Marshals being loaded into NYPD squad cars after the exchange of gunfire.
A man whose apartment Sterling was found in was subsequently taken into custody for questioning and will likely be charged in New York federal court with harboring a fugitive, three senior law enforcement officials say. That man was not hurt.
According to one senior official, Marshals and police tracked Sterling to his apartment using electronic communications. Sterling's BMW was found in Connecticut a few days ago, though it's still not clear how he got to the Bronx. Police blocked off a four-block area of the neighborhood, where trees, brick row houses and single-family homes line the streets.
Authorities in Cape Cod, where the state trooper was shot, said 35-year-old Sterling was wanted on charges of armed assault with intent to murder, possession of a firearm and assault and battery for the shooting of Trooper John Lennon, NBC Boston reported.
Lennon was shot in his right hand during a traffic stop in Hyannis on Nov. 20. Police say the bullet went through the 28-year-old's hand and struck his bulletproof vest near his shoulder.
