10 plead guilty in 2020 shooting in Norfolk

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Officials say 10 alleged members of a criminal gang have pleaded guilty in connection with a 2020 shooting that left a woman with life-threatening injuries.

The shooting occurred in late April 2020 just after midnight in the 500 block of Glendale Avenue.

When the officers got to the scene, they found a woman sitting in a vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head.

The victim was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

After further investigation, authorities arrested the 10 members of the Eastside Rollin 20’s Bloods Gang. They were charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, abduction, mob assault, conspiracy to commit a felony, grand larceny, gang hazing, gang participation and gang recruitment.

A stipulation of facts provided by the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney regarding one of the suspects documented the night the mother of a then-two-year-old endured from her assailants.

Officials say the victim was recruited into the Outlaws gang where it was required to be “jumped” or attacked by female members of the gang as an initiation.

According to court documents, the victim received multiple detrimental punishments (“DPs”) after her initiation for not properly following orders and was subsequently assaulted by members of the gang as punishment.

On the night of April 23, 2020, the victim brought her two-year-old son to the home of one of the gang members for a planned “movie night” with other children.

At one point during the evening, officials say the victim was again assaulted. Following the assault, the victim informed the leader, Brandon L. Winnegan, that she wanted to leave the gang.

After learning this from the victim, the group became angrier. Some of the defendants, including Toporshia Hodges, insisted that the victim needed to be killed because “she knew too much” about the gang.

The victim attempted to leave by taking her son to her car but realized she forgot her keys in the apartment.

Officials say this is when one of the suspects, Deandre Watkins, broke into her passenger window and dragged the victim back into the building, leaving her son in the back seat crying and screaming.

Inside the apartment, the victim was strangled until she lost consciousness, went limp, and “lost her bowels,” the documents said.

Throughout the assault, officials say the group attempted to “snap” the victim’s neck by turning it quickly to the side. Additionally, she was also stabbed multiple times around her midsection and was held down on the floor while Deandre Watkins and Brandon Winnegan poured bleach down her throat.

The group also grabbed the victim’s phone and deleted information regarding the gang off her device and social media account.

In the end, the group then made the decision to shoot the victim so Tavarrius Mitchell and Deondre Watkins loaded her back into her vehicle and drove her several blocks away where they were caught on a home surveillance camera. At this time, the victim’s son was removed from the vehicle.

In the early morning hours of April 24, 2020, court documents said the victim was shot multiple times in her vehicle with one bullet entering her right eye and exiting out her right ear.

Back at the apartment, the group discussed what to do with the victim’s son. Toporshia Hodges suggested the child should be killed, however the others disagreed. The group then took the two-year-old boy inside a vehicle, drove to the West Ghent neighborhood in Norfolk, and pushed the child out before driving away.

Officials say the boy wandered the neighborhood for several hours until a trash truck driver found him during his morning commute. The child was not injured.

His mother was found hours later by a concerned neighbor who reported to the police that the vehicle she was in was not moving and there was a person inside.

When police responded, they found they found the victim and she was rushed to the hospital. After multiple surgeries, she was released from the hospital weeks later, however she lost her right eye, has no hearing in her right ear and has difficulty with neurological issues like numbness, occasional dizziness and balance issues.

Documents say the victim suffered mentally, emotionally and will have “lifelong medical and emotional issues” following the attack.

Those arrested are listed below. (NOTE: The ages of the suspects were from the time they were arrested).

• 30-year-old Brandon L. Winnegan, of Newport News
• 23-year-old Deondre T. Watkins, of Portsmouth
• 21-year-old Javonne D. Hodges, of Chesapeake
• 22-year-old Toporshia V. Hodges, of Portsmouth
• 19-year-old Asja D. Smith-Moore, of Virginia Beach
• 23-year-old Sadia M. Brown, of Norfolk
• 18-year-old Ginger A. McAfee, of Virginia Beach
• 18-year-old Skylar D. Webb, of Chesapeake
• 18-year-old Tavarrius D. Mitchell, of Portsmouth
• 22-year-old Xavier A. Walker, of Virginia Beach

Following a recent inquiry from 10 On Your Side, the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney confirmed that 10 defendants have pleaded guilty to their charges.

Their sentencing dates have not yet been released.