Raleigh Man Sentenced to 8 Years on Firearm Charge Following Shooting Incident

NEW BERN — The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced Lafiamma Deonte Diboh, 31, of Raleigh to 96 months’ imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release.  DIBOH pled guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on September 11, 2018. 

In the early morning hours of January 29, 2017, Raleigh Police Department (RPD) officers responded to a disturbance call on Bragg Street in Raleigh.  There, they found a woman standing in the middle of the street holding a towel to a laceration over her eye.  The investigation revealed that earlier that night, the woman had gotten into a verbal altercation with the defendant’s girlfriend in a nearby apartment.  DIBOH had violently intervened by pointing a handgun at the woman.  When the woman pushed the gun away, DIBOH struck her four times in the face with the gun’s handle and dragged her outside of the apartment.  Once outside, he again pointed the gun at her, then lowered the gun and fired a round.  The gunshot grazed the woman’s leg, requiring minor medical attention.  Officers at the scene recovered the shell casing. 

Three days later, on February 1, 2017, an RPD officer was conducting a patrol in the South Park Community in Raleigh.  At around 2:00 a.m., he noticed a large number of individuals loitering in an area known for gang and drug activity.  As the officer approached, one man, later identified as DIBOH, walked away into an apartment complex, which had placed multiple complaints to the Raleigh Police Department regarding trespassers.   The officer approached to question DIBOH.  As he did, DIBOH pushed the officer in the chest and fled on foot.  During a brief chase, prior to being apprehended, DIBOH tossed aside a loaded .380 caliber handgun.  Law enforcement subsequently test fired the firearm to analyze its shell casings, finding them to match the shell casing from the January 29, 2017, shooting incident on Bragg Street. 

This case was prosecuted under the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) strategy.  PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

That effort has been implemented through the Take Back North Carolina Initiative of The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.  This initiative emphasizes the regional assignment of federal prosecutors to work with law enforcement and District Attorney’s Offices on a sustained basis in those communities to reduce the violent crime rate, drug trafficking, and crimes against law enforcement.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Raleigh Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF).  Assistant United States Attorneys Jake D. Pugh and Daniel Smith represented the government.