A St. Louis man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after admitting to being a felon in possession of a firearm and threatening a child with a gun. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey handed down the sentence to Dwight Byrd, 59, on Thursday.
Byrd pleaded guilty in May, acknowledging that on September 7, 2023, two witnesses reported seeing him threaten a seven-year-old boy by pointing a black handgun at him and saying he would “teach him some (expletive) respect.” According to court documents, when officers from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department approached Byrd, he fled into his home and changed clothes before surrendering.
Police recovered a loaded black 9mm handgun with a chambered round near the stairs leading to Byrd’s second-story apartment as well as a .38 special revolver and additional ammunition inside his residence. At the time of the incident, Byrd was on parole for a state drug offense.
During Thursday’s hearing, Byrd admitted that prosecutors could prove by a preponderance of evidence that he pointed the gun at the child.
In her letter to Judge Autrey, the victim’s mother stated: “We are all traumatized, and he probably still doesn’t care.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj noted both in court and in sentencing memos that Byrd had prior robbery and drug convictions which included three other incidents where he pointed or fired guns at people.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), an initiative involving cooperation among law enforcement agencies and communities aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence nationwide. The program focuses on building trust within communities, supporting organizations working to prevent violence before it occurs, setting targeted enforcement priorities, and measuring outcomes since its strengthened strategy was launched on May 26, 2021 by the Department of Justice.
