A Seattle resident, Andre Justice Atwater, 26, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for possession of a machine gun. The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court in Seattle and was announced by U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd.
Atwater was arrested in June 2024 after an incident involving the BB-gun shooting of two men outside his apartment in the International District. Following his identification as the shooter, Seattle Police searched his residence and discovered more than 25 firearms, including 20 privately manufactured “ghost guns,” as well as 103 Glock switches. These devices are used to convert semi-automatic Glock handguns into automatic weapons.
U.S. District Judge James L. Robart commented on the case, stating, “This is a very serious offense,” and added, “3D printers are most commonly used for coming up with illegal firearms.”
Court records indicate that law enforcement found one bedroom in Atwater’s apartment converted into a firearm production workshop equipped with a 3D printer and gunsmith tools. A gun safe contained 25 firearms—20 of which were unregistered homemade ghost guns—and three Glock switch devices had been modified for installation into firearms. Two silencers were also seized from the premises. Federal law prohibits possession of unregistered silencers and machine guns.
Authorities noted that the seizure of 103 Glock switches is the largest such seizure ever recorded in the Western District of Washington.
Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg argued for a three-year prison term, writing to the court: “…(T)he sheer volume of firearms Atwater possessed (and likely manufactured himself), and the large quantity of 103 machinegun conversion devices, is consistent with his present and/or future intent to sell the firearms and Glock switches. But for the fortuitous law enforcement intervention, Atwater had the potential to supply the streets of Seattle with dangerous firearms and machinegun devices – all or most of which would have inevitably ended up in the hands of dangerous individuals.”
After serving his federal sentence, Judge Robart ordered that Atwater will be subject to three years of supervised release. Separately, Atwater received a nine-month prison sentence in King County Superior Court related to the BB-gun assaults.
The investigation was conducted by both the Seattle Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg prosecuted this case.
