By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — A partnership between the Salisbury Police Department and the U.S. Department of Justice yielded a weapons charge against a local man, police say.

Salisbury police charged Kenyad Laquan Kelly, 25, of the 200 block of South Merritt Avenue, with felony possession of a firearm by a felon. Police served a federal arrest warrant on Wednesday.

Kelly is being held in the Rowan County jail without bond.

The law enforcement partnership began last year. The federal agency works with cities to identify and prioritize resources that help communities address gun, drug and criminal gang violence.

Department of Justice partnership agencies such as the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Marshals Service will work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina. The U.S. attorney will coordinate federal prosecution of cases brought by the agencies.

Kelly has previous convictions for misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest.

In 2014, he was sentenced as an accessory after the fact for his involvement in a 2012 train robbery. Two masked men climbed aboard a Norfolk Southern train. The robbers demanded money from the engineer and conductor and took cash and a wallet before fleeing. Kelly assisted in destroying and hiding evidence, according to a previous Post article.