A Hanover, Maryland, man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for firing at Secret Service officers with a ghost gun last winter.
Ghost guns are firearms that are assembled at home from parts that are often ordered online and don’t have serial numbers.
Jeremiah Watson, who was also sentenced to five years of supervised release, pleaded guilty in March to assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon as well as using, carrying and brandishing a firearm in relation to a violent crime, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
Police said Watson drove to a Secret Service facility in Feb. 2021 and blocked its entrance with his vehicle.
A security officer then asked Watson to move his vehicle so others could pass through, when Watson got “verbally combative,” and refused to drive away, prosecutors said.
Another security officer approached Watson and told him that he needed to move his vehicle, otherwise he would face arrest.
Watson continued to be verbally and physically aggressive towards security, the statement said. One of the security officers sprayed Watson with pepper spray, and Watson later moved his vehicle, unblocking the Secret Service facility.
Although he initially turned around, Watson drove back towards the facility’s entrance, pointed his firearm out of his vehicle’s window and fired shots in the direction of three security officers and a Secret Service agent.
Officials were able to track down Watson through his vehicle’s license plate. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Watson’s residence where they found the privately-assembled ghost gun that Watson fired at security the day before.
