Man gets eight years for illegal possession of gun during vehicle chase; toddler also was aboard

A felon who more than a year ago led law enforcement on a high-speed chase from Nash County to Zebulon with a toddler aboard has been ordered to serve eight years in federal prison for a firearms-related violation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a recent news release.

Chi-Ali Bunn, 29, was sentenced last month in U.S. District Court in Elizabeth City by Judge Terrence W. Boyle for having possessed a short-barreled rifle not marked with a serial number, according to federal court records.

Boyle credited Bunn for time served in jail while awaiting the disposition of the sentence, according to court records. Boyle also ordered Bunn to serve three years under supervised release after he completes the sentence, the records state.

On Jan. 4, 2023, Bunn tried to avoid a law enforcement checkpoint with his 2-year-old child in the back of the car, the Nash County Sheriff’s Office stated in a press release.

Deputies with the sheriff’s office, as part of the Governor’s Highway Safety Patrol Program to help reduce traffic-related crashes, and in conjunction with Nashville police officers were conducting a checkpoint on Taylor’s Store and Red roads.

According to information from the sheriff’s office provided after the chase, Bunn was driving a Honda Accord with dark tinted windows and made an illegal turn in the middle of Taylor’s Store Road to avoid the checkpoint.

Deputies immediately tried to halt the vehicle, but Bunn continued driving on Taylor’s Store Road at high speed and failed to halt for the blue lights and siren, the sheriff’s office stated.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, in its news release, said that Bunn reached speeds of up to 111 mph, ran multiple stop signs, drove on the wrong side of the road, weaved in and out of traffic and narrowly avoided striking other vehicles, including a law enforcement vehicle.

The pursuit continued on westbound U.S. 64 into Franklin and Wake counties.

As Bunn drove past the U.S. 64 interchange with Business U.S. 64 and N.C. 96 for Zebulon and Oxford, he swerved to avoid a tire deflation device and struck the front end of another vehicle, the sheriff’s office stated.

Bunn’s vehicle went onto the shoulder and back onto the roadway before slowing down, the sheriff’s office stated.

Nash County deputies used the precision immobilization technique to try to bring the pursuit to an end and keep the driver from further endangering the motoring public, the sheriff’s office stated.

Bunn drove onto the right shoulder, the vehicle came to rest against a tree and the child had to be taken to WakeMed’s pediatric hospital for treatment of serious injuries, the sheriff’s office stated.

Law enforcement had not known that the child, along with a small puppy, had been aboard the car, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in its news release.

A search of the car resulted in the discovery of a loaded 9mm handgun capable of accepting a large capacity magazine, a .223 caliber rifle with a 7½-inch barrel and a loaded drum magazine, the news release said.

The search also resulted in the discovery of a pill bottle containing eight oxycodone pills, a cut straw containing cocaine and a digital scale, the news release said.

U.S. Attorney Michael Easley, in prepared remarks as part of the news release, said that his office is going to keep up its partnership with local law enforcement to get illegal guns out of dangerous hands.

“A short-barreled rifle and a high-capacity drum magazine have no place around a child, especially in a car traveling at speeds over a hundred miles an hour,” Easley said.

Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone, in prepared remarks as part of the news release, expressed appreciation for the collaboration and partnerships with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and local law enforcement agencies.

Federal court records online stated that Bunn has appealed the sentence to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.

At the time of the chase in January 2023, Bunn was listed in N.C. Public Safety records as having been wanted for arrest because he had fled from the supervision of state probation/parole officials.

The Nash County Sheriff’s Office also said that Genaro Padin, 21, was a passenger in the car with Bunn at the time of the chase.

State Public Safety records stated that Padin was placed on probation after having been convicted on Oct. 3, 2023, in Nash County for, on the day of the chase, maintaining a place for the use, storage or sale of a controlled substance, carrying a concealed weapon and use or possession of drug paraphernalia.