Department of Justice

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – December19, 2019 – Four Nashville men were sentenced to federal prison last week by Chief U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr., for their roles in violent crime incidents connected to Nashville public housing developments, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee. 

The four men were found responsible for a murder, multiple armed robberies and home invasions, shootings, and illegal firearms possession connected to the JC Napier public housing development in Nashville in 2015.

Aweis Haji-Mohamed, aka Son Son, 31, previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.  He was responsible for committing three armed robberies, including a robbery of Isaiah Starks a/k/a Blue, in the J.C. Napier Homes public housing development, and later shot and killed Starks in February 2015.  He also committed other shootings, including in January 2015, at a home in east Nashville that was occupied by women and children, including a disabled child.  Haji-Mohamed fired several shots during that incident as part of an ongoing dispute relating to a stolen gun.  Prior to these incidents, Haji-Mohamed had been ordered deported to his home country, Somalia, from the United States and was under an order of supervision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Marquis Brandon aka Dummy, 25, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted at trial in April 2018, of illegal firearms possession and committing an armed home invasion.  In January 2015, Brandon entered a home in north Nashville and hoisted a male occupant onto the wall while brandishing a pistol.  He took cash and a MAC-10 type firearm in that home invasion which he committed with Santez Bradford. At sentencing, Brandon was found responsible for committing other commercial robberies, including the armed robbery of a Cricket Wireless store near the J.C. Napier community with Haji-Mohamed in January 2015; an armed robbery of a Shell gas station in which he fired shots at a clerk the following week; and a robbery at a north Nashville home construction site in which two construction workers were shot in February 2015.  One of the victims was shot in the throat and the other was permanently paralyzed from the shooting.  Brandon was found to have threatened potential witnesses and also provided Haji-Mohamed the pistol which Haji-Mohamed used to murder Starks.

Santez Bradford a/k/a Wacco, 25, previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 22 ½ year in prison for illegal firearms possession and the January 2015 home invasion, which he committed with Brandon.  During that home invasion, Bradford forced a man to his knees at gun point and threatened to shoot him.  He was also responsible for shooting at a group of people at close range in the J.C. Napier area in December 2014 and attempted to prevent a victim whom he had tried to rob from testifying against him.

Charles Braden, aka Manstinka, 26, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 22 years in prison for illegal firearms possession; two drug-related robberies which he committed with Haji-Mohamed in January 2015; and committing an armed home invasion in the J.C. Napier community in March 2015.  In that home invasion, Braden targeted a residence he believed would contain a substantial amount of drugs, which he planned to take, but invaded the wrong home while he was high on heroin.  Braden terrorized the occupants, and threatened to kill a man, two women, and several young children who lived in that home.  He was found responsible for attempting to tamper with one of the victims of that home invasion.  Braden was later arrested after being wounded in a shootout in the J.C. Napier community in March 2015.

 The multi-year investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Sunny A.M. Koshy prosecuted the cases.  More than 70 individuals have been convicted in the probe since 2015.

 # # #