Durham Crips Gang Member Sentenced for Possession of Firearm

GREENSBORO – A North Carolina man was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison, after pleading guilty to one count of felon in possession of a firearm, announced United States Attorney Sandra J. Hairston of the Middle District of North Carolina (MDNC).  

TYRICO DEVONTE BOWENS, age 30, of Durham, was sentenced to a 120-month term of imprisonment by the Honorable William L. Osteen, Jr., United States District Judge in the United States District Court for the MDNC.  He pleaded guilty on September 29, 2023, to felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g)(1).

According to court records, BOWENS, a member of the Eight Trey Gangster Crips street gang, was at a family gathering in Apex, North Carolina on December 31, 2022, when he retrieved a 10mm Glock handgun from his car after an argument with his girlfriend’s father. When family members attempted to intervene, BOWENS discharged the firearm in front of the home. Officers with the Apex Police Department recovered a S&B 10mm cartridge casing from the yard.

Five days later, the gang unit with the Durham Police Department (DPD) arrested BOWENS at his residence on charges related to the December 31, 2022, incident and searched his home. They recovered three loaded firearms, including a 10mm Glock handgun. A forensic firearms examiner with DPD microscopically compared the S&B 10mm cartridge casing recovered from the December 31, 2022 incident with a cartridge casing test fired from the Glock 10mm handgun and determined that, based on similar class characteristics and sufficient agreement of individual characteristics, the 10mm cartridge casing recovered from the scene on December 31, 2022, was fired from the Glock 10mm handgun.  

At the time of these offenses, BOWENS had been previously convicted of Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury and Second-Degree Kidnapping (Durham County – 2013); Conspiracy to Commit Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon, Possession of Firearm by Felon, and Conspiracy to Intimidate Witnesses (Durham County – 2014); Possession of Firearm by Felon and Concealed Carry (Durham County – 2018); and Possession of Firearm by Felon and Possession with Intent to Sell or Distribute Cocaine (Durham County – 2023).  In connection with these offenses, BOWENS was sentenced to multiple terms of imprisonment exceeding one year. Thus, at the time of the offenses, BOWENS was legally barred from possessing a firearm due to his status as a felon.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Raleigh-Durham Safe Streets Task Force (SSTF), the Durham Police Department, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, and the Apex Police Department. The lead investigator was an FBI Task Force Officer from the Durham Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Laura Jeanne Dildine and JoAnna G. McFadden.  

Since 1992, the FBI's Safe Streets Violent Crime Initiative has successfully aligned FBI Agents, state and local law enforcement investigators, and federal and state prosecutors onto SSTFs to reduce violent crime. This nationwide initiative brings resources together in a “force multiplier concept” and utilizes the expertise of each agency.  SSTFs focus primarily upon street gang and drug-related violence through sustained, proactive, coordinated investigations to obtain prosecutions on violations such as racketeering, drug conspiracy, and firearms violations.

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