Man sentenced to 70 months for shootout
Published 8:14 pm Thursday, September 10, 2020
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A Suffolk man was sentenced Thursday to 70 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charge stemmed from an April 2019 shootout that resulted in a car crash in Suffolk.
Tamarrea Deyon Walker, 25, is a member of the Suffolk-based criminal street gang “YNGI,” according to a press release issued Thursday by the office of G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
In April 2019, the press release stated, Walker and a fellow gang member brandished firearms and shot at two rival gang members, who fled to their vehicle and drove away. Walker and four other YNGI members piled into their own car and gave chase. The two groups shot at each other while the cars were moving. The driver of Walker’s car was shot in the chest, which caused him to slam on the gas, speed through an intersection and crash.
The original shooting happened on Haskins Drive around 11:37 p.m. April 27. At 11:39 p.m., the crash was reported at the intersection of Portsmouth Boulevard and Suburban Drive. Three people were injured.
Police officers arrived at the accident scene soon after and saw Walker rummaging around the vehicle and an extended 9mm magazine lying on the ground by his feet, according to the press release. The officers also recovered from the wreckage more than 30 grams of heroin and four firearms, including a Masterpiece Arms 9mm handgun.
A photo of Walker holding the Masterpiece Arms handgun, loaded with that same extended magazine, was posted on his Instagram account just days earlier.
Walker left the accident scene without providing his identification to officers. He was arrested three days later.
At the time of the offense, Walker was a convicted felon and was prohibited from possessing a firearm.
“Reckless actions by violent criminals are a dangerous threat to our community,” Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, stated in the press release. “The only way to defeat this type of gang violence is for law enforcement to work together as one team, and the Tidewater Violent Crimes Task Force represents the commitment of law enforcement partners at every level to target the gangs and criminal enterprises that drive violent crime in Hampton Roads.”