NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

MARCH 24, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KC MAN SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS IN PRISON FOR

DRUG TRAFFICKING, ILLEGAL FIREARM

FOLLOWING POLICE SHOOTING

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for illegally possessing a firearm following a gunfight with police officers in which an officer was severely injured.

             Ali Akbar Walker, formerly known as “Bryan Walker” before legally changing his name, 24, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey this afternoon to 30 years in federal prison without parole.

             On Aug. 27, 2009, Walker pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute marijuana, to carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

             Walker and co-defendant Kyle A. Gardenhire, 26, of Kansas City, were arrested by Kansas City, Mo., police officers following a traffic stop near 71st Street and Myrtle Avenue on Aug. 7, 2007. As officers attempted to stop the Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Gardenhire, he attempted to flee, striking a police car. As the officers approached the car, Walker – a passenger in the rear seat – began firing gunshots at the officers. Police Officer Paul Clark was struck by the gunshots and severely injured. Officers returned fire, striking Gardenhire.

             A loaded Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol was recovered from the front passenger floorboard. A loaded Smith and Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic pistol was recovered from the back seat. A Ruger .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol was recovered from the back seat. The magazine of the Ruger was empty and several spent .22-caliber shell casings were recovered from the car. The police officers recovered 30 individual baggies containing a total of approximately 190.61 grams of marijuana from the front passenger seat floorboard.

             It is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Walker has two prior felony convictions for unlawful use of a weapon in 2004, a felony conviction for unlawful use of a weapon – shooting into a dwelling in 2005, and felony convictions for tampering in the first degree and felony fleeing, both in 2004.

             Gardenhire pleaded guilty to being an unlawful user of marijuana while in possession of a firearm and was sentenced on Dec. 3, 2009, to three years and one month in federal prison without parole.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.