Date: 04-30-2024

Case Style:

United States of America v. G’Ante Butler; Zarion Butler

Case Number: 21-CR-20027

Judge: Julie A. Robinson

Court: The United States District Court for the District of Kansas (Wyandotte County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: The United States Attorney’s Office in Kansas

Defendant's Attorney:

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Description:

Kansas City, Kansas criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendants charged with opening fire on law enforcement officers

Brothers sentenced to prison for shooting at law enforcement officers

A pair of Kansas brothers will serve time in prison for opening fire on law enforcement officers as the officers were investigating an earlier, related shooting.

According to court documents, G’Ante Butler, 24, and Zarion Butler, 26, of Kansas City, Kansas, were both sentenced to 190 months’ imprisonment.

In December 2023, a federal jury found G’Ante Butler guilty of one count of forcible assault on a federal law enforcement officer and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Zarion Butler subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of forcible assault of a federal law enforcement officer and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

On August 3, 2020, Kansas City, Kansas police officers responded to a “shots fired” call at a house where the Butler brothers’ parents lived on Farrow Avenue. In response to the investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Special Agents and federally deputized Task Force Officers (TFOs) went to North Allis Street and arrested a suspect in the Farrow Avenue shooting. As the officers were returning to their vehicles, multiple shooters began firing at them. The officers tried to immediately take cover, however, not before an officer and a civilian bystander were struck by gunfire.

The Butlers, Barnes, and Hall shot at the North Allis Street house in retaliation for the earlier shooting on Farrow Avenue. Officers later recovered numerous spent shell casings (including 9mm, .40 caliber, .45 caliber, 5.56 caliber, and 7.62 caliber casings) from an alley west of the targeted North Allis Street home.

“Numerous brave Law Enforcement Officers started their day in August of 2020 doing their job by executing a lawful search warrant when they were ambushed by four individuals. No one can be allowed to shoot at law enforcement. This sentence sends a clear warning to anyone who thinks they can shoot at Law Enforcement and get away with it – they cannot. If they try, we will tirelessly work with the United States Attorney’s Office and our federal, state, and local partners to investigate and prosecute them to the fullest extent provided by law,” stated Bernard G. Hansen, Special Agent in Charge, Kansas City Field Division. “The actions of the ATF Special Agents and officers from our partner agencies that day are truly commendable as they acted with high regard not only for their safety but those of the surrounding community. I am both grateful for, and inspired by, the professionalism shown by the ATF agents who risked their lives that morning.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fiza Alhambra and Trent Krug are p rosecuting the case.

Outcome:

Defendants were found guilty and

G’Ante Butler and Zarion Butler were both sentenced to 190 months’ imprisonment.


Co-defendants Nadarius Barnes and Chase Lewis and Donnell L. Hall each pleaded guilty to one count of forcible assault on a federal law enforcement officer and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Barnes was sentenced to 156 months’ imprisonment, Lewis (a driver who did not shoot at officers) was sentenced to 42 months’ imprisonment, and Hall is awaiting sentencing.

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