NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A Newport News man was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in planning and attempting to murder a rival gang member in Hampton, according to the Department of Justice.
On June 5, 2015, 22-year-old Shaquone Ford and three fellow members of the 36th Street Bang Squad, Martin Hunt, Jamaree Green and Corey Sweetenburg, drove to a Hampton high school to look for a rival gang member, according to court documents.
The rival gang member was suspected of murdering a 36th Street Bang Squad member two days before.
The group of 36th Street members joined some other associates and followed a Hampton City school bus in two cars, waiting for their target to get off at a stop.
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When the target got off the bus, the 36th Street members, including Ford and his co-defendants, chased him into an apartment complex carrying loaded guns. Court documents said they had planned to kill the target if he was found.
On Dec. 7, co-defendant Green pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder the rival gang member and to possessing a firearm to aid crime and violence. Green was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 25.
This case is a product of a two-year ongoing investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Hampton Police Division and the Newport News Police Department, to address violent gang crime on the peninsula.