NORFOLK, Va. - 23-year-old Teniqu Cushman was sentenced to six years and seven months to serve in Norfolk General Court on Friday after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the death of a beloved Norfolk teacher.
Teniqu R. Cushman. The 22-year-old faces a conspiracy charge in the death of Caroline Hendrix.
Cushman took a plea deal, which would have involved her testifying at Edward Shaw’s trial, but Shaw also pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Caroline Hendrix was a preschool teacher at Oceanaire Elementary. Prosecutors say Shaw mistook her for someone else and shot her twice. The bullets hit her in the leg, but traveled to her upper body, killing her. Prosecutors didn’t go into further detail on her injuries.
The prosecutor said Hendrix was in her friend’s car outside of a home on Virginian Drive. Shaw thought he was shooting Hendrix’s friend but mistakenly shot her, the prosecutor said.
Hendrix died at the scene.
Shaw, Cushman and Hendrix’s friend were part of a love triangle, the prosecutor said. Cushman was not at the scene on the night of the shooting, but she and Shaw were texting, according to the prosecutor.
Shaw texted Cushman that he had “shot him,” but also said he was shot.
Police later caught up with Shaw in Chesapeake, where officers say he told them he was the victim of a road-rage shooting, but police later determined that to not be true.
Police have said an acquaintance of Hendrix shot Shaw during the incident. The prosecutor didn’t elaborate during the hearing on how Shaw got shot.
