Commonwealth's Attorney

[July 19, 2024 — Newport News, VA] Today Judge Christopher R. Papile sentenced Trashon Lamont Williams to twenty-six years in prison for the 2023 shooting of a 15-year-old near the 800 block of 36th Street. On January 2, 2023, Williams and a co-conspirator contacted the 15-year-old victim, who was known to Williams. They asked him to come with them, saying they were going to visit someone in a nearby neighborhood. The victim got into the vehicle with Williams, who drove them to a nearby apartment complex. Once there, the victim got out of the car and bent down to tie his shoe. When he started to stand up, Williams and the co-conspirator both started shooting the 15-year-old victim. Officers with the Newport News Police Department arrived within minutes, and provided first aid to the victim until medics arrived.

The victim sustained six bullet wounds and was transported by ambulance to Riverside Hospital. There, he was in intensive care and underwent multiple surgeries. At the sentencing hearing today, the victim’s mother said she’d immediately started looking for her son earlier in the day. Later, she discovered he’d been shot and was at the hospital. She described arriving at the hospital, seeing her son, and the extensive effects the shooting has had on the family. “He’s not the same person he was before the shooting,” she said at the sentencing hearing.

“Today’s sentencing reflects our commitment to protecting the innocent and holding violent offenders accountable. Our prayers remain with this young victim’s family, and we hope they find some peace in knowing justice has been served,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard E. Gwynn.

An investigation by Detectives with the Newport News Police department revealed that one of the two shooters was Trashon Lamont Williams. Among other evidence presented at trial was a firearm police seized from the car Williams was driving. A lab analysis revealed that the gun matched a bullet recovered from the crime scene.

Noting Williams’s extensive criminal history and the circumstances of this case, Judge Papile pronounced a total sentence of forty-eight years in prison with twenty-two years suspended. That will be followed by five years’ of supervision upon release from incarceration, and thirty years’ good behavior.

This case was prosecuted on behalf of the Commonwealth’s Attorney by Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorneys Jenkins and Galgano.