Press Release

20 Ghost Guns Recovered, Including Semi-Automatic Pistols and Assault Weapons

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Chaz McMillan was sentenced today to five and one-half years in prison for possessing a stockpile of illegal weapons, including ghost guns and large-capacity magazines and ammunition, in his Fresh Meadows home.

District Attorney Katz said: “We will not let up in our pursuit of ridding the streets of Queens of illegal guns. These tools of death have no place in our communities.”

McMillan, 21, of 162nd Street in Fresh Meadows, pleaded guilty in April to criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree. Justice Toni Cimino today sentenced McMillan to five and one-half years in prison to be followed by five years post-release supervision.

According to the charges, investigators conducted surveillance on McMillan, who had been buying firearm parts online. They executed a search warrant on December 8, 2021, and recovered the following:

• 20 ghost guns including: 19 semi-automatic pistols and 1 semi-automatic shotgun with the characteristics to classify it as an assault weapon
• 31 large-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition
• All the parts to assemble one AR-10 semi-automatic rifle; 3 AR-15 semi-automatic Rifles, and 1 AR-9 semi-automatic rifle, all with characteristics of an assault weapon
• Four additional complete polymer-based lower receivers
• Approximately 670 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, including 9mm and 10mm
• Several firearm-related components, parts, and equipment for assembling and manufacturing ghost guns

Since being created by District Attorney Katz in August 2021, the Crime Strategies and Intelligence Unit has recovered:

• 242 firearms, including ghost guns and commercially manufactured weapons
• 141 ghost guns (102 semi-automatic handguns, 35 assault weapons, 4 machine guns, 1 semi-automatic shotgun)
• 83 complete ghost gun kits
• 821 high-capacity magazines (holds 10 or more rounds)
• 237 firearm lower receivers
• 42 silencers
• 5 3D-printers / 3 ghost gunners
• 10 rapid-fire modification devices
• 10 bullet-resistant body armor vests
• Over 110,000 rounds of ammunition

Assistant District Attorney Charles Dunn, of the DA’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Jonathan Sennett, Bureau Chief, Michelle Goldstein, Senior Deputy Chief, Philip Anderson, Deputy Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard Brave.

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