A 20-year-old Montgomery County man has pleaded guilty to carjacking and shooting a man on Philadelphia's Limekiln Pike in 2024, admitting to a crime that carries a mandatory decade in federal prison. Niyaz Burgess entered the plea to charges of carjacking and using, carrying and discharging a firearm, according to prosecutors.
As reported by NBC10 Philadelphia, Burgess carjacked and shot a man on Limekiln Pike, according to prosecutors. The Justice Department's account, described in court filings and statements, places the incident on the 6600 block of Limekiln Pike shortly before 3 a.m. on July 14, 2024, when Burgess allegedly shot the victim and drove away in his vehicle, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
What Burgess Admitted To
Burgess's guilty plea covers both the carjacking itself and the firearm offense tied to it, per the NBC10 report. He drove away in the victim's car after the shooting that night, the outlet notes, and now awaits a reckoning in federal court.
He is set to be sentenced Feb. 15, according to the article. Under federal law, a conviction for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, per the text of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). That statute sets the floor for Burgess's eventual sentence.
Potential Penalties Burgess Faces
Beyond that mandatory minimum, Burgess faces a maximum possible sentence of up to life in prison. He also faces a $500,000 fine and five years of supervised release following any prison term, the same report states.
The combination of charges — carjacking and discharging a firearm during that carjacking — places Burgess's case under the elevated federal penalties reserved for violent crimes involving guns. Carjacking itself is separately codified under 18 U.S.C. § 2119, the federal statute governing motor vehicle theft involving force, violence or intimidation.
Burgess's case now moves toward sentencing in February, when a judge will determine where within that range — from the mandatory decade to a potential life term — his punishment will fall.
