Faisil McCants will serve 37.5 years in federal prison for firing 15 rounds from a converted machine gun during an August 2025 robbery in East Harlem, killing a 69-year-old bystander, a grandmother out in the middle of the day. The term was imposed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court following McCants’ guilty plea, ending months of investigation and legal proceedings. Neighbors say the brazen midday firing, which left a walker abandoned on the pavement, jolted a community that had hoped gun violence was finally receding.
According to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff ordered the 37.5-year sentence, which will be followed by five years of supervised release. Prosecutors reiterated US Attorney Jay Clayton’s criticism of the shooting and commended Homeland Security Investigations and the NYPD for putting together the case.
Court filings and local reportage describe the Aug. 27, 2025, incident that began near East 109th Street and Madison Avenue, when McCants and two co-conspirators robbed a suspected heroin dealer. As they sprinted north, McCants fired 15 shots, showering the block as they escaped. Robin Wright, 69, was hit while standing with a walker near East 110th Street and Madison Avenue. She eventually died from her injuries. WABC covered the crime scene and the surveillance video that investigators studied.
McCants pleaded guilty in November to using, carrying, and possessing a machine gun, which the US Attorney’s Office has stated carries a statutory minimum penalty of 30 years. This week, the court exceeded that threshold by imposing a 37.5-year sentence.
Following the death, residents and local publications portrayed a mix of shock and tired grief, with neighbors placing flowers on the corner and community members advocating for greater enforcement of illegal conversion devices that convert handguns into machine guns. Gothamist and the community hub chronicling the East Harlem community’s mourning have tracked the case from arrest to plea. Prosecutors claimed letters from Wright’s family explaining who she was to them and the neighborhood were among the factors considered by the judge before sentence.
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