Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DIJON CHAMPAGNIE, 24, of Bridgeport, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 132 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for offenses stemming from a violent drug-related robbery and shootings in West Haven.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on July 1, 2019, Champagnie arranged to buy a half-pound of marijuana from an individual in West Haven. After Champagnie arrived at the seller’s residence, he removed a gun from his backpack, pointed it at the victim’s face, and demanded all the marijuana the victim had. After the victim gave Champagnie the half-pound of marijuana he had arranged to sell, Champagnie shot the victim in the leg, causing significant injuries. The victim’s neighbor, who had known Champagnie, heard the gunshot and saw Champagnie fleeing the scene.
In the days following the shooting, Champagnie posted videos on his Snapchat account of him shooting a gun into the air, pointing a handgun with an extended magazine at the camera, and showing a bag of marijuana that he presumably had stolen. Champagnie also sent several text messages threatening to harm the victim’s neighbor. In the early morning hours of July 7, 2019, Champagnie fired four shots into the neighbor’s apartment.
Champagnie has been detained since his arrest on related state charges on July 20, 2019. On August 18, 2023, he pleaded guilty in federal court to discharging a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
This matter was investigated by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the West Haven, New Haven, and Hartford Police Departments. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Angel M. Krull.
U.S. Attorney Avery thanked the Ansonia-Milford State Attorney’s Office for its cooperation in prosecution of this case.
