Friday, January 17, 2025
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Dec. 20 that a Long Beach man pleaded guilty to selling 10 illegal guns, including assault weapons and a ghost gun, in front of his apartment between April and July of 2024. Two of the weapons were linked to multiple shootings in Queens and Nassau County dating back to 2021.
James Jayshaun Edwards, 33, pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a firearm and criminal possession of a firearm.
Edwards is expected to be sentenced on Feb. 14 to seven years in prison with five years of post-release supervision. The district attorney’s office recommended a sentence of 13 years in prison.
The “guilty plea underscores the strength of this case built by the work of my prosecutors and our law enforcement partners. The overwhelming evidence against him forced this defendant to take accountability for selling nearly a dozen dangerous ghost guns right in front of his home in broad daylight,” Donnelly said. “Our investigation continues into locating the source of the guns this defendant was selling on the streets of Long Beach. We will not tolerate the illegal sale of untraceable weapons in our communities that can put the lives of Nassau County residents at risk.”
Donnelly said that in April 2024, the district attorney’s office began working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Task Force, the Long Beach Police Department, the New York City Police Department, and the Nassau County Police Department after receiving a tip that Edwards was selling illegal weapons.
Between April and July 2024, Edwards sold 10 illegal firearms, including an assault pistol, an AR-15-style ghost gun, and multiple pistols and loaded firearms, in front of his home on Birch Court in Long Beach. Nearly all the weapons were loaded, and Edwards also sold hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Three additional firearms were recovered on Aug. 22, 2024, when law enforcement executed a search warrant at Edwards’ home.
Ballistics comparisons conducted by the ATF on the guns purchased from Edwards showed that two weapons were used in multiple shootings in Queens, Roosevelt, Westbury, and Long Beach between August 2021 and June 2022.
Edwards was arrested on Aug. 22, 2024, in Long Beach by members of the LBPD, ATF, and NYPD.
