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Four Newport News gang members plead guilty to 2015 shooting

Posted at 12:00 PM, May 31, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-31 15:11:45-04

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A 20-year-old man entered a guilty plea to several charges relating to his participation in a gang-related shooting outside of a Sonic restaurant in Hampton in 2015.

The man, Eric Edmunds II, was the last of four suspects to plead guilty in the case.

Edmunds pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, and discharge of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.

Quantavius Durham, 19, Raiquan Turner, 20, and Raquille Jackson, 22, also of Newport News, previously entered guilty pleas to the same charges.

Each of the defendants was a member or associate of the 36th Street Bang Squad.

Court documents say the men followed a Hampton Public School bus on June 5, 2015, looking for a rival gang member whom they suspected of killing a fellow gang member a few days earlier. The men did not find the rival gang member, and returned to their vehicle, which was parked at the Sonic restaurant on Floyd Thompson Boulevard.

A short time later, Turner observed rival gang members walking toward the Sonic restaurant, and Jackson, the driver of the vehicle, called the rivals over to the vehicle.

As the rivals approached, Jackson and Edmunds opened fire.  Edmunds used a firearm provided to him by Durham.

Hampton Police quickly stopped the fleeing vehicle only miles from the location, and all four men were removed from the vehicle.

All four men were indicted by a federal grand jury on November 17, 2015.

Turner is scheduled to be sentenced on June 7. Jackson and Durham are scheduled to be sentenced on July 18. Edmunds is scheduled to be sentenced on September 12.

Each faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, and a maximum penalty of life in prison when sentenced.