'Just the gun being in my face' | Armored car drivers testify about being pistol-whipped, robbed by alleged Southeast crew members

WASHINGTON — An armored car driver says he still suffers from a facial fracture from being pistol-whipped during a robbery allegedly perpetrated by members of a Southeast street crew in 2021.

Federal prosecutors began a jury trial last week against three men – William Brock, Anthony Antwon McNair Jr. and Erin Sheffey – accused of three armored car robberies between October 2021 and March 2022. All three men are accused of being members of the “Choppa City” street crew that operates on and near a former stretch of Good Hope Road SE in Anacostia that was renamed Marion Barion Avenue last year. The trial has proceeded so far under unusual security precautions due to what prosecutors have described as a “campaign of witness intimidation” targeting two witnesses associated with the defendants.

In charging documents, prosecutors described an organized conspiracy in which members of the group staked out Brink’s armored cars and banks to learn their routes and the drivers’ patterns. The suspects then hit at least three cars – including one robbery that netted more than $1 million in cash.

Two of those robberies had the same victim: Nii Aryee, a driver with more than 20 years of experience with Brink’s and, formerly, Dunbar Security. Aryee was called by prosecutors last week as a witness.

Aryee said he was first hit by unknown men on Oct. 6, 2021, at the SunTrust Bank on what was then Good Hope Road SE. He said as he was walking toward the bank from the car, he heard running behind him. When he turned around, masked men put a gun to his head and robbed him of roughly $100,000 in cash, according to charging documents.

The second robbery occurred on Dec. 8, 2021, outside an Advanced AutoParts store where Aryee was doing a pickup. Aryee said he parked his vehicle as usual but was met at the front door by a masked man.

“Somebody else met me in front of the door, hit my face with something – a brick or something,” Aryee testified. “Hit my face, and I fell backwards. And the other guy was also standing by the side. He also kicked me to the ground, and they started hustling me on the ground, grabbed my bag and ran away with my bag.”

The would-be thieves ran off with nothing, because the bag was empty. Aryee, who was knocked unconscious by the attack, suffered a broken nose and a facial fracture.

“I was bleeding, sneezing blood all over my face,” he said.

The final robbery occurred three months later, on March 2, 2022, at the same SunTrust Bank where Aryee was first robbed in October 2021. This time, the armored car had two Brink’s employees in it: Hugh Giddings and Marquis Walker.

Walker was called to the stand Tuesday. More than two years later, he was visibly unsettled by being asked questions about the event and asked prosecutors not to play video of the robbery.

“Every time I think about that day, I just remember I was almost killed,” Walker said, adding moments later, “Just the gun being in my face. That’s all I remember.”

Giddings, who worked for Brink’s as an ATM tech, recalled exiting the vehicle only to be faced with three men holding guns. One of them demanded he give up the money and then proceeded to throw bags with approximately $1 million in cash out of the armored car into the street. One of the bags came loose and spilled onto the road, Giddings said, leaving loose bills on the asphalt. After the suspects ran off, he recalled bystanders approaching – but not to help.

“Then, like, onlookers who was there who saw what was going on, they came out, was trying to pick up the money, and so I was trying to stop them,” Giddings said.

“People in the street tried to grab up the loose money?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Tepfer asked.

Giddings said yes.

“Did they come up and try to help you?” Tepfer asked.

“They wasn’t trying to help,” Giddings said. “They was trying to get the money.”

Although none of the drivers were able to identify any of the suspects who robbed them, prosecutors called separate law enforcement witnesses who said DNA, surveillance video and cellphone evidence linked the men to the scene. They also called a reluctant witness under subpoena who said he'd driven Brock and another man away from the area of one of the robberies.

The trial for Brock, McNair and Sheffey was scheduled to continue with more testimony Wednesday. In addition to the federal felony charges each faces in this case, all three men are currently awaiting trial on separate cases in D.C. Superior Court or, in McNair’s case, federal court in Maryland. Sheffey was charged with murder last year in connection with a shootout in the 2000 block of 16th Street SE in August 2021 that resulted in the death of 32-year-old Kiwyon Maddox. Brock is also separately charged in connection with a shootout – this one in November 2021 – that ultimately resulted in the death of Nathaniel Martin, an innocent bystander who was struck and killed. Brock is charged with assault with intent to kill while armed, robbery while armed and felon in possession of a firearm in that case.