Philadelphia man sentenced to 9 years for gun charge in 2020 civil unrest

PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia man was sentenced to nine-years in prison for illegally possessing a loaded gun inside a ransacked store during the civil unrest in 2020. 

Federal prosecutors say 24-year-old Mashaq White was found by police inside a trashed Rite-Aid at 57th and Chestnut street in West Philadelphia on June 1. 

According to investigators, White had a firearm loaded with 18 rounds of ammunition. 

Officers who responded to the store for reports of a burglary saw White and another person drilling into an ATM towards the front of the store, according to prosecutors. 

White pleaded guilty to a one-count indictment of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon last October. 

United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced Thursday that White will serve nine-years and two months in prison, followed by three-years of supervised release.