NORFOLK, Va. — On Friday, a man was sentenced to 63 years in prison and three years of post-release supervision for the first-degree murder of Shelvin Duntae Alston, 30, and the use of a firearm in the commission of that crime in 2020.
Michael Allen Faulkner, 40, was convicted by a jury of those offenses in September.
In May 2020, Faulkner was standing outside the Tinee Giant convenience store on East Princess Anne Road chatting with other people, including Alston, according to a press release.
Video surveillance footage showed that the conversation became heated, with Faulkner removing his jewelry and setting belongings down as if to prepare for a fist fight.
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Faulkner tried for several minutes to further engage Alston, but bystanders attempted to diffuse the situation, and Alston left the parking lot and crossed the street heading east.
Within less than two minutes, Faulkner got into his white Toyota 4Runner with another individual in the passenger seat, drove out of the store parking lot heading in the same direction as Alston, and shots were fired a few blocks east near Oaklawn Avenue.
Alston was shot four times - once in the side of the hear, once in the back of the head, and twice in his back. He died at the scene.
An eyewitness saw an individual matching Faulkner's description fleeing the scene by getting in the passenger seat of the same white SUV and being driven off.
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Faulkner was charged in June 2020 with second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of murder. However, those charges were dismissed at Faulkner's preliminary hearing in May 2021.
In June 2022, the Commonwealth Attorney's Office secured indictments from a grand jury against Faulkner's first-degree murder and for the use of a firearm.
In Sept. 2023, a jury found Faulkner guilty as charged.
“Mr. Faulkner gunned down Shelvin Alston in cold blood,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said in a press release. “That is why we indicted Mr. Faulkner and presented the evidence to a jury of Mr. Faulkner’s peers."
"We owed it to Mr. Alston’s memory and to his family to do everything we could to hold Mr. Faulkner accountable, and we have done just that. Mr. Faulkner will now serve a substantial prison sentence that reflects his prior criminal record and the seriousness of his crime.”
