Criminal Complaint — United States of America v. Anthony Q. Johnson (Dkt. 1, No. 1:23-cr-10007, C.D. Ill.)

Summary

A criminal complaint and supporting affidavit against Anthony Q. Johnson in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, filed as #1 on 01/20/23 in case 1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH. It charges possession of a machinegun on or about January 20, 2023 in Peoria County,. The affidavit of ATF Special Agent Kevin Brown describes a ShotSpotter alert on January 12, 2023 of 12 rounds fired in Peoria, and music videos in which Johnson appears holding handguns with lyrics about switches. It states that searches on January 20, 2023 found a Glock Model 27 .40 caliber pistol fitted with a Glock Conversion Device under the mattress in the only bedroom of the N. Flora Avenue apartment where Johnson was found. It was sworn before Jonathan E. Hawley, United States Magistrate Judge.

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1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1. Filed: 01/20/23 Page 1 of 13
g E-FILED

AO 91 (Rev. 11/11) Criminal Complaint Friday, 20 January, 2023 02:33:50 PM

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

for the

Central District of Illinois

United States of America )
V. )
) Case No. 23 MJ 6010
)
)
)
ANTHONY Q. JOHNSON )
Defendant(s)
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
I, the complainant in this case, state that the following is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
On or about the date(s) of January 20, 2023 in the county of Peoria in the
Central District of Illinois , the defendant(s) violated:
Code Section Offense Description
Title 18, United States Code, defendant herein, did knowingly possess a machinegun, as defined in Title 18,
Sections 922(0) & 924(a)(2) United States Code, Section 921(a)(23) and Title 26, United States Code, Section
5845(b)

This criminal complaint is based on these facts:

See attached Affidavit

& Continued on the attached sheet. s/Kevin Brown

Complainant’s signature

Kevin Brown, Special Agent, ATF

Printed name and title

Sworn and subscribed to me by telephone pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(d)(3) and Rule

4.1 this Ye day of January 2023 at Z A ¢ 7 (Central Standard Pi
Judge's signature

City and state: Vey IG , ZL Jonathan Hawley, United States Magistrate Judge

Printed name and title
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page 2of13

AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF COMPLAINT

Your Affiant Kevin D. Brown, Special Agent, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives, being sworn, deposes and states the following:

I. BACKGROUND

1. Your Affiant is a Special Agent of the United States Department of Justice,
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (hereinafter “ATF”). Your Affiant
has been a law enforcement officer since April 2009. During this time, Your Affiant has
been trained in the investigation of firearms and violent crime. Additionally, Your
Affiant has participated in numerous investigations into individuals and organizations
involved in the unlawful possession of firearms, use of firearms, and perpetration of
violent crime.

2. This affidavit is submitted in support of a criminal complaint alleging that
Anthony Q. JOHNSON violated Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(0)
(Possession of Machinegun).

3. Because this affidavit is being submitted for the limited purpose of
establishing probable cause in support of a criminal complaint, I have not included each
and every fact known to me in this investigation. I have set forth only the facts that I
believe are necessary to establish probable cause to believe that the defendant
committed the offense alleged in the complaint.

4, The statements contained within this Affidavit are based on: (a) my

personal participation in this investigation; (b) information provided to me by other
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page 3of13

federal, state, and local law enforcement officers; (c) my training and experience and the
training and experience of other law enforcement agents with whom I have spoken.
NIBIN

5. NIBIN is an ATF-managed law enforcement tool to identify, target, and
prosecute “shooters” and determine their sources of gun crime. NIBIN is a national
database of digital images of spent bullets and cartridge cases found at crime scenes or
test-fired from confiscated weapons. It is a unique ballistic comparison system that
allows technicians to digitize and automatically sort shell casing signatures. The
ballistic match provides investigators with real-time leads.

6. To use NIBIN, examiners or technicians enter bullet and casing evidence
into the Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS). Then the new images are
correlated against earlier entries through NIBIN.

7. NIBIN is a stand-alone tool and a key component of ATP’s Crime Gun
Intelligence Centers (CGIC), making it possible to identify, target, and prosecute
shooters and their sources of gun crimes. It is the only interstate, automatic ballistic
imaging network in the United States, available to most major population centers in the
United States through more than 150 sites around the country, including a site in
Peoria, Illinois. Through searches locally, regionally, or nationally, NIBIN partners are
able to discover links between firearms-related, violent crimes more quickly, including
links that would have never been identified without this technology.

8. NIBIN data is limited to ballistic information from firearms test fires and
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page 4of13

fired ammunition components acquired by law enforcement as part of a criminal
investigation for the sole purpose of identifying and prosecuting shooters.

9. A NIBIN hit typically starts with recovered fired ammunition or firearms
recovered from a suspect or the scene, which is test fired and entered into the system.
Within a matter of hours, a firearms examiner uses ballistic imaging to convert the spent
rounds into two or three-dimensional digital images that are uploaded into NIBIN.
NIBIN can be searched for possible matches, that is, other rounds that have similar tool
marks and thus may have been fired from the same gun. Multiple casings/bullets may
be entered as part of the same case record.

10. After a possible match is identified, the crime lab secures the actual spent
round(s) and compares them under a microscope to confirm the hit. Then the lab sends
information on the hit to investigators. A “hit” is a linkage between two different crime
scenes where previously there had been no known connection.

SHOTSPOTTER

11. Your Affiant is also working in conjunction with technology called
“ShotSpotter”. ShotSpotter combines wide-area acoustic surveillance with centralized
cloud-based analysis to provide a gunfire alert and analysis service that is immediate
and accurate. ShotSpotter uses multiple collaborative acoustic sensors that activate
when gunfire occurs, providing comprehensive outdoor coverage over complex urban
geographies.

12. When there is a shooting outdoors, ShotSpotter sensors and software
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page5of13

triangulate and pinpoint the precise location of each round fired within 25 meters (82
feet) from the actual discharge location of each round fired including

latitude/ longitude and street address within seconds. Detailed incident data is
immediately sent to the ShotSpotter Technology (SST) Incident Review Center (IRC),
ShotSpotter’s secured processing and alert facility.

13. Immediately, an SST gunfire and acoustics expert analyzes the data and
qualifies the incident. Once validated, an alert is sent to dispatch centers, Public Safety
Answer Points (PSAP), and directly to field personnel through any computer or mobile
device with access to the Internet, all in under a minute.

14. ShotSpotter Technologies provides a map of the location of the activation
and will note if it was a single gunshot or multiple gunshots. When the program reports
multiple shots have been fired they will provide officers with the number of gunshots
detected. The program will also provide audio of the gunfire which maybe listened to
by officers prior to arriving at the location of the activation.

15. The ShotSpotter technology has key features such as precise location
including latitude/longitude, street address, number of rounds fired, identification of
fully-automatic or high capacity weapons, identification of multiple shooters, and
forensic data for investigation, prosecution and analysis.

II. RELEVANT STATUTES
16. The following federal statutes are relevant to this investigation:

a. 18 U.S.C. § 922(0) provides that it is unlawful for any person to transfer
or possess a machinegun.
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1. Filed: 01/20/23 Page 6of13

b. 18 U.S.C. § 921(23) states, “The term “machinegun’ has the meaning
given such term in section 5845(b) of the National Firearms Act (26
U.S.C. 5845(b)).”

c. 26 USC § 5845(b) states, “The term ‘machinegun’ means any weapon
which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot,
automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a
single function of the trigger. The term shall also include the frame or
receiver of any such weapon, any part designed and intended solely
and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for
use in converting a weapon into a machinegun, and any combination
of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are
in the possession or under the control of a person.” (emphasis added).

III. PROBABLE CAUSE

17. Your Affiant reviewed Peoria Police Department (PPD) case 23-783.
Your Affiant reviewed reports and body worn camera. This case details a ShotSpotter
incident on January 12, 2023. PPD responded to a ShotSpotter Alert showing 12 rounds
fired at 1114 N. Flora Avenue, Peoria, Illinois that occurred at 22:20:13. Responding
officers located 13 shell casings in the street in front of 1119 N. Flora Avenue. Officers
observed a damaged vehicle parked in front of 1200 N. Flora Avenue. The vehicle had
been struck by gunfire, causing the vehicle’s back window and front windshield to
shatter.

18. Your Affiant listened to the ShotSpotter audio file for the incident on N.
Flora Avenue on January 12, 2023. The audio of the incident reflects a gunfire pattern of
sound at a rate consistent with fully-automatic gunfire.

19. Based on investigative leads, Your Affiant reviewed Anthony Q. J
JOHNSON’s Facebook account “Keefworld Ant”. On December 14, 2022, “Keefworld

Ant” shared a clip from a music video titled “Other One” by “Chill Will”. The following
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1. Filed: 01/20/23 Page 7 of 13

is a screenshot of that post, depicting the discharge of firearms and the splattering of
blood:
Posts 25 Filters

& Keefworld Ant

Droppin soon and yea he did it again no bap bro up next fs 100 €3 ¢

N

20. Your Affiant viewed the full video, “Other One”, on YouTube. Multiple
individuals appear in the music video, including Anthony Q. JOHNSON. The video

includes more than ten different items that Your Affiant believes through training and
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page 8 of 13

experience to be actual firearms. Anthony Q. JOHNSON is seen holding some of these
items throughout the video. The lyrics include the following, “I don’t want no fucking
ghost Glocks I want them other ones, put a switch up on that bitch and give my brother
one” followed by a sound mimicking fully-automatic gunfire. Your Affiant knows
through training and experience that a “switch” is a common term for a device used to
convert a semiautomatic Glock-brand handgun to fully-automatic machine gun. The
following is a screenshot of a portion of that video, depicting Anthony Q. JOHNSON

displaying a handgun:

> Ppl i 132/30

Chiltwil - Other One
Chill will
|
ME Dec 18, 2022
21. The image above depicts Anthony Q. JOHNSON displaying a handgun

that, in my training and experience, is consistent with that of a Glock brand pistol, in
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page 9of13

that it appears to have “trigger safety” that Glock incorporates into their handguns to
block the trigger from moving rearward absent a deliberate depression of the trigger to
fire the weapon.

22. Your Affiant reviewed another music video titled “On & On” by “Chill
Will” on YouTube. The video shows that it was posted on April 26, 2022. Multiple
individuals appear in the music video, including Anthony Q. Johnson. The video
includes more than ten different items that Your Affiant believes through training and
experience to be actual firearms. Anthony Q. JOHNSON is seen holding some of these
items throughout the video. The lyrics include the following, “we put switches on shit,
so I don’t really want that bitch if it ain’t no Glock” and also includes “on and on and
on, oh them switches they go on and on and on”. The following is a screenshot of a
portion of that video, depicting multiple subjects displaying handguns, including a
pistol equipped with a high-capacity drum-style magazine, and Anthony Q. JOHNSON

pointing two handguns at the camera, one in each of his hands (image on next page):
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page 10 of 13

si HoldM

ChillWil - On & On

23. Your Affiant reviewed a NIBIN Lead Notification indicating that
cartridges collected on N. Flora Avenue during the above-described incident on January
13, 2023, and cartridges collected from a shooting incident on August 23, 2021 in Peoria,
Illinois, were likely fired from the same firearm. The shooting on August 23, 2021 was
documented in Peoria PD case 21-15877. This incident involved multiple shooters and
two shooting victims. At this stage, a firearm examiner has not performed a microscopic
comparison of the actual cartridge cases to reach a final conclusion that they match.

24. Peoria PD case 22-11788 documents that Anthony Q. JOHNSON fled from
police on June 27, 2022, in a vehicle registered to his mother. The vehicle that fled from

police and Anthony Q. JOHNSON were later located in Peoria, Illinois. Anthony Q.
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page 11 of 13

Johnson was arrested and on July 22, 2022, pled guilty to fleeing/ attempt to elude an
officer, Peoria County Case 2022 MT 1110.

25. Peoria PD case 22-16837 documents that Anthony Q. JOHNSON fled from
police on September 6, 2022, in a vehicle registered to his mother. The vehicle that fled
from police was later located in Peoria, Illinois. Anthony Q. JOHNSON was arrested on
September 9, 2022, and charged with multiple traffic offenses, including
fleeing /attempt to elude an officer, pending Peoria County Case 2022 MT 1577.

SEARCH WARRANTS FOR
1204 N. DOUGLAS STREET AND 1119 N. FLORA AVENUE

26. On January 19, 2023, Your Affiant applied for, and obtained, federal
search warrants authorizing the search of residences located at (1) 1204 N. Douglas
Street, Peoria, Illinois, (CDIL Case No. 23 MJ 6009) and (2) 1119 N. Flora Avenue,
Peoria, Illinois (CDIL Case No. 23 MJ 60008).

27. On January 20, 2023, the Peoria Area Federal Firearms Task Force
executed searches at the above-listed residences.

28. At approximately 6:01 AM, entry was forced at 1119 N. Flora Avenue,
Apartment A, Peoria, Illinois. Prior to forcing entry, law enforcement knocked and
announced that police were present with a search warrant. Anthony Q. Johnson was
called out of the only bedroom in the apartment and placed in handcuffs. The only
other occupant, Brieana Buntley, was also called out of the same bedroom and placed in

handcuffs.

10
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1 Filed: 01/20/23 Page 12 of 13

29. | A thorough search of the residence was conducted. Several court
documents for Anthony Q. Johnson were found inside the residence. A Glock, Model
27, 40 caliber pistol with serial number RDV336 loaded with 10 live rounds of
ammunition was found under the mattress in the only bedroom in the apartment. The
firearm was equipped with a Glock Conversion Device affixed to the rear of the slide.
Two additional firearms were located inside of the residence.

30. Brieana Buntley was interviewed inside of the residence. Buntley stated
that she does not own any firearms and that any firearms inside of the house do not
belong to her. Buntley stated that she was present outside of her residence on January
12, 2023, when a shooting occurred. Buntley stated that Anthony Q. Johnson was also
present when the shooting occurred, but would not say if Anthony Q. Johnson is the
one who committed the shooting. Buntley stated that she was under the influence of
drugs at the time of the shooting and could not remember who shot. Buntley stated
that Anthony Q. Johnson has been living with her at her apartment for approximately
three months, and that Anthony Q. Johnson spends the night most nights. Buntley
stated that the clothing, shoes and other items inside of the apartment belonged to
Anthony Q. Johnson. Buntley stated that she rents the apartment for $800 a month.

31. The Glock pistol was test-fired and functioned as fully automatic. Test-
fire casings were submitted to NIBIN to determine if there is a correlation to the .40
caliber casings recovered by Peoria PD in front of the residence on January 12, 2023.

32. The Glock Conversion Device JOHNSON possessed is a part designed
and intended solely and exclusively for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun,

11
1:23-cr-10007-JBM-JEH #1. Filed: 01/20/23 Page 13 of 13

and was in fact, installed in a Glock firearm, enabling the gun to fire as a fully automatic

machine gun.

Further affiant sayeth not.
s/Kevin Brown

Kevin D. Brown
Special Agent
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives

Sworn and subscribed to me by telephone pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(d)(3) and
Rule 4.1 this 20th day of January, 2023.

Honorable Jonathan E. Hawley
United States Magistrate Judge

12


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