By Steve Neavling

A 40-year-old Arizona man who fired numerous shots at the FBI’s Phoenix Office and an agent in April 2020 was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison, the Justice Department announced Thursday. 

Gabriel Manzo, of Mesa, previously pleaded guilty to assault on a federal officer and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. 

On April 20, 2020, Manzo drove his truck to the field office and fired three rounds from his .380 pistol at the building. He then drove around to the front of the building and fired at least 15 more shots, breaking windows and causing more than $98,000 in damage. 

He fired an additional three rounds at an FBI agent who was in a government-issued vehicle. 

No one was injured in the shooting. 

By Steve Neavling

An off-duty FBI agent shot and killed a person following an altercation at a busy subway station in downtown Washington, D.C., on Wednesday evening. 

The shooting occurred at about 6:30 p.m. at the Metro Center station, just blocks from the White House, The New York Times reports.

The agent “appears to be the victim,” Ashan M. Benedict, the executive assistant chief of police at the Metropolitan Police Department, said at a news conference. 

According to police, the pair got into a fight and fell about eight feet off a subway platform. As they continued to fight, the agent fatally shot the other person. Several shots were fired. 

The FBI agent received minor injuries and was taken to a hospital. 

The agent’s gun was the only firearm found at the scene. 

The identities of both individuals were not released, but the agent is a veteran of the bureau and is assigned to FBI headquarters. 

The shooting comes less than a week after another FBI agent was found not guilty after shooting a passenger aboard a moving Metro subway train near Washington, D.C.

Eduardo Valdivia, who was off-duty at the time of the shooting, was acquitted by a jury that found he was justified when he shot a panhandler who had confronted him aboard the train.

By Steve Neavling

TSA officers discovered an unusual type of stuffing inside a turkey. 

At the Ford Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, TSA officers uncovered a handgun stuffed into the cavity of a raw chicken earlier this week. 

The discovery was made at a security checkpoint. 

“There’s a personal fowl here. Our officers @FLLFlyer made this very raw find,” the agency tweeted. “We hate to break it to you but stuffing a firearm in your holiday bird for travel is just a baste of time. So, don’t wing it, you’ll find all the proper packaging info here: https://bit.ly/2H51Dcm”

Inside the wrapped, raw chicken was a plastic bag containing a handgun and what appears to be an unloaded magazine.

It wasn’t clear if the passenger was charged with a crime. 

By Steve Neavling

An off-duty DEA agent who flashed his badge and government-issued firearm outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot scored a minor victory in federal court last week.

U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly dismissed a felony count of making a false statement to the FBI, saying the D.C. District Court was an improper venue to pursue the count, CBS affiliate WUSA reports.

Mark Sami Ibrahim, who has since resigned, was the first federal law enforcement officer to be charged in the riot. He was arrested in July. 

Prosecutors allege Ibrahim lied to investigators when he said he did not flash his DEA badge and firearm. A photo showed Ibrahim posing with his badge and a firearm holstered on his hip. 

But the judge dismissed the count, saying the venue was improper because Ibrahim was in California and the agent was in Virginia during the Zoom interview. 

Ibrahim is still facing charges of entering a restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon, injuries to property and bringing a firearm to Capitol grounds. 

A trial date has not yet been set. 

By Steve Neavling

The president and CEO of the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, Ark., received two suspended prison sentences of six years after pleading guilty to two charges of aggravated assault with a firearm, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports.

Patrick Weeks, 53, was accused of pointing a pistol at two construction workers outside of his house in December after refusing to let them on his property to repair a street light. 

According to authorities, Weeks continued pointing the pistol at the workers while they drove off. 

Weeks was placed on administrative leave on Dec. 23 and resigned on March 4. 

The museum hired Ben Johnson to replace Weeks in August. 

By Steve Neavling

A Pennsylvania woman serving a 15-year prison sentence for fatally shooting an FBI agent at her home will soon be free of jail, the Associated Press reports.

Christina Korbe shot Special Agent Samuel Hicks during a raid at her home in 2008, saying she believed someone was breaking into her home in Indiana Township. Her husband was wanted on drug charges.

Korbe had requested compassionate release from prison while she was recovering from a COVID-19 infection in August. 

Her attorney W. Theodore Koch III said she was still recovering five months after she tested positive and insisted there’s “no guarantee that a person develops full immunity after recovery.”

Koch said Korbe was doing good work behind bars and “clearly is not danger to the community.”

She was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and a firearms charge in 2011. 

By Steve Neavling

A 46-year-old Utah man has pleaded guilty to shooting at U.S. Marshals while they tried to arrest him in Salt Lake City in May 2021. 

Epifanio Welch pleaded guilty last week to felony counts of assaulting a federal officer and shooting a firearm during a crime of violence, the Justice Department said. 

The incident occurred while U.S. Marshals were attempting to apprehend Welch and another suspect who were wanted on multiple arrest warrants. 

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the marshals were warned that Welch and Humphrey may engage in “suicide by cop.”

As they tried to execute the search warrants, marshals came under fire multiple times. 

After arresting the suspects, authorities recovered four firearms during a search of the home.  

Welch later acknowledge firing multiple shots at law enforcement officers. 

None of the officers were injured. 

By Steve Neavling

A Utah man who fired a gun at an FBI agent and sheriff’s deputy and later escaped from jail was sentenced to nine years in prison. 

Cecil Vijil, 39, of Aneth, fired several rounds at an FBI special agent and San Juan County Sheriff’s deputy when they went to his home as part of a separate investigation on April 30, 2020. No one was injured. 

Vijil was convicted of assault on a federal officer and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. 

He also was convicted of escaping from federal custody after scaling two fences at Cache County Jail and running into a field in March 2021. Police quickly captured him.