Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TROY HARRIS, 30, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for a Newington gun store burglary in September 2021.

According to court documents and statements made in court, shortly after midnight on September 5, 2021, Harris, who had absconded from state parole, approached a woman in the parking lot of a supermarket in Bristol. Pointing what appeared to be handgun at the victim, Harris demanded that she leave her car and give him the keys. After the victim complied, Harris threw her to the ground and drove and away in her car.

In the early morning hours of September 7, 2021, Harris drove the victim's car to Hoffman's "Guns for the Good Guys," a federal firearms licensee located in Newington, and crashed it through the store's front entrance. He then entered the store, kicked out a display case, and stole five handguns before fleeing the scene on foot. He was arrested the next day.

Judge Bolden ordered Harris to pay restitution of $36,166.30.

Harris has been detained since his arrest. On July 13, 2023, he pleaded guilty to theft of firearms from a licensee.

State charges against Harris relating to the carjacking are pending.

Only one of the five stolen firearms has been recovered by law enforcement.

This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Newington and Bristol Police Departments.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel E. Cummings through the Justice's Department's Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program, a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce gun violence and other violent crime, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Justice Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit www.justice.gov/psn.

U.S. Attorney Avery thanked the State's Attorney's Office for the Judicial District of New Britain for its close cooperation in investigating and prosecuting this matter.