NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A man has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after he accidentally shot and killed a Norfolk 14-year-old last year.
27-year-old Albert James Sutton pleaded guilty to that charge on Monday, as well as a charge of recklessly handling a firearm, per the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. There was no plea agreement in the case.
“Every gun owner has a legal and moral obligation to handle their guns safely and to protect children from them,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “When a gun owner kills another person through their own recklessness, they have committed a criminal homicide, and we will hold them responsible. We extend our continued condolences to the family of this child, and we will seek a sentence for Mr. Sutton that fits his crime.”
Prosecutors say Sutton was temporarily supervising about a dozen children inside a home on Wyngate Drive at the time of the incident back on September 3, 2023. He pulled a gun he’d brought with him and was showing it off to the children when he accidentally shot 14-year-old Norview Middle student Amir Anthony Burnett in the chest.
Sutton fled the home with the gun, leaving the children to call 911 and try to help Burnett, who later died at the hospital.
Prosecutors say Sutton, who returned to the home after being identified by police, originally tried to blame one of the children for firing the gun, but eventually confessed to firing it himself. He also tried to claim the gun went off when he was trying to put it back in his waistband.
Sutton is scheduled to be sentenced on October 25.
