2 sentenced in Augusta shootout that caught postal driver in cross-fire

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Two Richmond County men have been sentenced to federal prison for a December 2021 shootout that narrowly missed a U.S. Postal Service driver while damaging her vehicle.

Corii Arkeem Bussey, 32, and Darnell Dwight Brown, 30, both of Augusta, were sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to felony charges following the gunfight outside an Augusta convenience store, according to federal prosecutors.

Bussey was sentenced to 48 months in prison for assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal employee and Brown got 48 months in prison for possession of a firearm by a user of illegal drugs.

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Each defendant was also fined $1,500 and ordered to serve three years of supervised release after completion of their prison terms.

As described in court documents and testimony, Bussey and Brown encountered each other while shopping at an Augusta discount store on Dec. 9, 2021, and had what a witness described as a “nonverbal disagreement” that ended with Bussey brandishing a firearm.

A short time later, the two again encountered each other at an Augusta convenience store where they parked on either side of a U.S. Postal Service delivery truck.

Each man produced a semiautomatic pistol and began firing, with bullets striking the postal vehicle as the postal employee lay on the floorboard for safety.

Bullets also struck Brown’s vehicle and a nearby tire store while missing each shooter, the postal carrier and other customers at the convenience store.

Investigators later recovered 18 shell casings at the site.

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Both men left the scene.

Richmond County Sheriff’s Office investigators later arrested Brown at the residence of a relative, while Bussey surrendered to U.S. marshals in August 2022.

“It’s exceptionally fortunate that no one was wounded by this inexcusably reckless exchange of gunfire in broad daylight,” said U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg. “The community will be safer with these gun-carrying criminals off the streets.”