Palm Coast, FL – A Palm Coast barber shot by federal agents during a car chase that started in Volusia County and ended in Flagler County is going to federal prison.
40-year-old Radbourne Mark Anthony Saleem was sentenced to 21 years and 10 months for assaulting a federal officer and having a machine gun and silencer in his possession, according to a press release sent on Thursday by the United States Department of Justice.
Radbourne entered a guilty plea for both counts in November 2014, a year after he and another man were shot by agents with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives on US 1 in Bunnell.
“Mr. Saleem is a multi-convicted felon who will be off of our streets and unable to victimize anyone for a long time,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Regina Lombardo following the sentencing hearing. “He will no longer be in a position to possess or use firearms. The sentence imposed by the court guarantees that our community will be safe from Mr. Saleem.”
On the morning of November 15, 2013, Radbourne met with a confidential informant at the Scottish Inn in Ormond Beach and spent $1,000 to buy what he thought was a .45 caliber pistol with a silencer and a machine gun, according to DOJ officials.
ATF agents say Radbourne was actually given prop weaponry by the confidential informant as part of a plan to arrest him in the Scottish Inn’s parking lot, but that plan went awry when Radbourne hit several law enforcement vehicles and nearly ran over an ATF agent while fleeing the scene in a gray Toyota Matrix.
That’s when shots were fired, according to ATF, with several hitting Radbourne and at least 1 hitting 27-year-old Gordon Saleem as he sat in a passenger seat.
The Matrix went north on US 1 and crossed the Flagler County line with several law enforcement vehicles in pursuit, but DOJ says it ended soon after that when Radbourne – who was driving – rear-ended a pick-up near a Hess gas station in Bunnell and the vehicle overturned.
Radbourne – who was thrown from that vehicle because of the crash – and Gordon were both taken to the hospital for treatment as federal agents closed down the Scottish Inn’s parking lot and the accident scene for most of the day as part of the investigation.
An ATF complaint filed in court indicated that Radbourne wanted the weapons to shoot several men, including police officers and another man who he said insulted his nephew.
Radbourne also allegedly told the confidential informant that he wanted the weapons as protection for some home break-ins he had planned and that he would “sell his soul to the devil” to get these weapons.
Radbourne had been convicted of several crimes under the name of Anthony D. Johnson while living in New York, according to the complaint.
The confidential informant also told ATF that Radbourne sold MDMA, marijuana and prescription pills from his Palm Coast barbershop.
Radbourne Mark Anthony Saleem (picture courtesy Flagler County Jail)
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.