A Washington D.C. man has been handed a decade behind bars after a trigger-happy confrontation with a city cop, where he unloaded a torrent of bullets, but luckily didn't wound the lawman. Saeve Edward Evans, 38, received his sentence of 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his brazen attack, according to U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and MPD Chief Pamela A. Smith.
Evans' shooting spree began on August 1, 2023, when he let loose a trio of shots into the air, prompting an innocent bystander to bolt from the scene; minutes later, when a Metro Police Department officer arrived to investigate, Evans challenged the officer with a shout, took aim, and opened fire with reckless abandon. In a hail of 14 rounds that included a sequence of three shots, then a move up a ramp where he fired nine more, and ending with two through the windows from inside a building, he put the officer's life in direct jeopardy, the officer, who thankfully emerged unharmed, was forced to return fire and seek cover behind his cruiser.
The U.S. Attorney's Office website detailed that Evans' plea, made on January 29, covered an array of charges: assault on a police officer while armed, and possessing a firearm and ammunition despite a prior conviction.
Corralling Evans required additional MPD officers from the Fifth District who, once inside, found him on the third floor of the Benning Road building where he tried to feign innocence claiming "Ain't no gun, I took it off me" — but his lie proved thin as the officers unearthed a black Springfield XD 9x19 pistol on the same landing with his DNA linking him to the crime, and the gun itself turned out to be stolen months earlier, according to U.S. Attorney's Office.
The case against Evans was vigorously pursued by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Song and the former Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Cloherty and came to a close with the sentencing by U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton who set the terms for Evans’ path from a three-story apartment complex turned crime scene to a federal penitentiary stay of a full decade.
