Feds: New Haven man sentenced in gun exchange

The federal charges stem from an incident on April 10, 2019.

NEW HAVEN — A city man was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison — time already served — in connection with a gun exchange in New Haven in 2019, prosecutors said.

Tyrell Cox-Henderson, 28, was sentenced by

Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 29 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The judge ordered that Cox-Henderson serve his first three months of supervised release in home confinement.

The federal charges stem from an incident on April 10, 2019.

Prosecutors said CoxHenderson went into a New Haven convenience store that day and placed a revolver behind merchandise on the shelf. About an hour later, Bridgeport resident Allen Lusmat went into the store and got the gun from the shelf, prosecutors said.

Police reviewed surveillance footage and later stopped a car in which Lusmat was a passenger. When officers walked up to the vehicle, Lusmat threw a bag out the window, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the bag contained the gun from the store. Lusmat was taken into custody and charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison.

Cox-Henderson was taken into custody the same day of Lusmat’s arrest. He pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon on Sept. 14, 2020.

Prosecutors said CoxHenderson’s criminal history includes state felony convictions for offenses of third-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit third-degree robbery and possession of a weapon or a dangerous instrument in a correctional facility. Federal law prohibits anyone previously convicted of a felony from having a gun or ammunition.