FBI: Clayton County man allegedly part of gun ring, shoots, injures New York police officer

YONKERS, NY — The FBI and Yonkers, New York police are investigating a Wednesday shooting incident that left an undercover police officer injured and a suspect believed to be from Clayton County dead at a convenience store.

FBI investigators said they had been following 28-year-old Bryant Jackson of Jonesboro and two other men from metro Atlanta they believed were trafficking guns from Georgia to New York.

The three men were spotted Wednesday afternoon going in to a convenience store where investigators said Yonkers police detective Brian Menton confronted them. That was when they said Jackson shot Menton and tried to run away.

The FBI said one of their agents who had been watching Jackson, returned fire, killing him in the store. Agents said they caught the other two people with Jackson who were trying to run from the store.

Yonkers police said Menton, a highly decorated veteran a week away from his retirement, was shot in the stomach and is recovering at a local hospital.

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FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll said Jackson, along with 23-year-old Bryce Martin of Hampton and 22-year-old Xavier Simms, were under investigation for trafficking firearms, including a “ghost gun.” Channel 2 Action News reported just one week ago about the problems that ghost guns are creating for law enforcement across the country.

A quick investigation showed agents and police that the men had at least four guns on them, including the “ghost gun”. They said evidence taken from their cellphones shows that the trio had access to several “specialized firearms” including some machine guns. The FBI believes Jackson, along with Martin and Simms came up to the Yonkers area with plans to sell all of their guns to buyers in New York.

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Martin and Simms are both facing a federal charge of conspiring to traffic firearms. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five-years in jail.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Gun crime is plaguing our communities, and the actions of the criminals using them are putting lives in danger. Our law enforcement partners are out doing all they can to get illegal weapons and ‘ghost guns’ off the streets before more people get killed. The violence has to stop, and we have to hold accountable those who are breaking the law,” said U.S. Attorney Damien Williams.

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