In April of 2018, Tekashi 6ix9ine made headlines when a gunshot was fired in the corridors of Brooklyn's Barclays Center arena during a clash between his crew and affiliates of Casanova. On Wednesday, the shooter in that incident, Fuguan "Fubanger" Lovick, was sentenced to 85 months in prison.
Lovick, 41, entered Judge Paul A. Engelmayer's courtroom in Manhattan's Thurgood Marshall Courthouse facing a guaranteed minimum of 84 months behind bars, a consequence of having pleaded guilty to one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The only issue at hand was how much time he would face for the additional count he pleaded to back in May, assault with a dangerous weapon. While the sentencing guidelines suggested six to twelve additional months for that charge, Judge Engelmayer in the end added a single month to arrive at the total.
At Wednesday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Longyear explained that Lovick was a member of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, the gang 6ix9ine joined to boost his street credibility. But, Longyear said, Lovick was "not a leader" of the outfit. Lovick was "aligned" with Roland "Ro Murda" Martin. Martin ended a nine-year prison bid in February 2018, and he and Lovick joined in Nine Trey's activities shortly afterwards.
During the trial of Nine Trey members Anthony "Harv" Ellison and Aljermiah "Nuke" Mack, Lovick was heard in wiretapped conversations with Nine Trey godfather Jamel "Mel Murda" Jones, explaining that he was "under" Jones in the gang structure and saying, "I’m a Nine Trey gangster for real, Blood."
Despite his Nine Trey membership and a criminal history dating back to 1999, Lovick "impressed" Judge Engelmayer with his family ties; his behavior in prison since being arrested for the Barclays shooting in May 2018; and his history of "gainful employment." When it came to the Barclays incident, where Lovick fired into the air to scatter the crowd, the judge said, "You were not aiming at a person. That's quite important to me."
But still, Engelmayer continued, firing a shot in an arena, with members of both Nine Trey and a rival Blood set around, was "lighting a match perilously close to a powder keg." "You were enabling a dangerous organization," the judge said to Lovick about Nine Trey, calling them "a destructive, violent, and anti-social gang."
In addition to 85 months in prison, Lovick was sentenced to three years of supervised release. One of the conditions is that he not associate or interact with members of Nine Trey in any way, including on social media.
For more about Tekashi 6ix9ine, listen to the Complex/Spotify podcast Infamous: The Tekashi 6ix9ine Story, narrated by Angie Martinez.
