A man was sentenced today to four life terms plus 43 years in prison for the murders of three women and wounding of two in the 2021 Young Terrace mass shooting in Norfolk.
Ziontay Brian Ricardo Palmer, 22, was sentenced for the malicious wounding of his then-pregnant girlfriend, the aggravated murders of three women, including the girlfriend’s mother and stepmother, the aggravated malicious wounding of one of their neighbors and the use of a firearm in the mass shooting.
Palmer, then 19, was dating 19-year-old Angel LeGrande and had been living at her Young Terrace apartment with LeGrande, LeGrande’s mother, 45-year-old Nicole Lovewine and Lovewine’s partner, 42-year-old Detra Brown.
LeGrande was several months pregnant with Palmer’s child.
According to court records, the day before the shooting, on Nov. 2, 2021, LeGrande told Palmer that she was aware his relationship with other women nd that she was willing to raise their child with her mother and without Palmer’s help. LeGrande told Palmer to leave her home, and a relative picked him up.
Around 6 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2021, the relative drove Palmer back to Young Terrace. As Palmer was arriving in the neighborhood, he spotted LeGrande and Lovewine and exited the relative’s vehicle near the intersection of Nicholson Street and Whitaker Lane. Almost immediately, Palmer shot both LeGrande and Lovewine from just a few feet away.
Brown and a neighbor, 44-year-old Sarah Elizabeth Costine, ran from their apartments to help the two women. As Brown and Costine were rendering aid, Palmer ran up and shot them as well.
Another neighbor, 39-year-old Shazelle Dixon, ran out of her apartment after hearing the gunshots to check on her children who had been playing outside. Palmer shot Dixon after she witnessed him shooting Brown and Costine. He then fled the neighborhood toward Brambleton Avenue.
Lovewine and Brown were both shot multiple times in the head and torso. Costine was shot once in the chest. All three women were beyond medical help by the time emergency responders arrived and were pronounced dead at the scene.
LeGrande was shot once in the shoulder, and she and her unborn child survived.
Dixon survived being shot in the face and chest, required multiple surgeries including jaw reconstruction and continues to experience nerve damage from a bullet lodged in her spine.
As Palmer fled, he discarded his black and silver handgun and some articles of clothing including a brown hoodie and a pink backpack. Palmer then got into a woman’s SUV that was parked nearby and unsuccessfully asked the woman seated inside to drive him away from the area.
Norfolk Police officers first encountered Palmer — who had not yet been named a suspect in the shooting but matched one of many initial descriptions of the suspect — moments after he was in the woman’s vehicle while he continued to flee south on foot near St. Pauls Boulevard.
After patting Palmer down and running a background check on him that came back clean, officers decided not to further detain him.
In the hours after the shooting while she recovered in the hospital, LeGrande identified Palmer to investigators as the shooter. After Palmer was named a suspect, Palmer turned himself in to the police operations center.
He was charged with three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of malicious wounding and five counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of those felonies.
Palmer’s pink backpack was later recovered from the vehicle of the woman whom he asked to drive him away. Video evidence later recovered from Palmer’s cell phone showed him on the day before the shooting wearing the same brown hoodie and holding the same black and silver firearm recovered from the crime scene.
In July 2023, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office secured indictments from a grand jury against Palmer for three counts of aggravated murder, one count each of malicious wounding, aggravated malicious wounding, attempted carjacking and six counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of those felonies.
The Oofice withdrew the charge of the use of a firearm in the commission of attempted carjacking after further evidence suggested that Palmer had already abandoned his gun before encountering the woman in her SUV.
During the trial, Judge Robert B. Rigney dismissed the charge of attempted carjacking following Palmer’s defense counsel’s motion to strike.
After about three and a half hours of deliberation following a three-day-long trial, the jury found Palmer guilty as charged on Nov. 17, 2023, of each count of aggravated murder, of aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding and five counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of those crimes.
Judge Rigney sentenced Palmer today to life sentences for each count of aggravated murder and aggravated malicious wounding, to 20 years for malicious wounding, to three years for the use of a firearm in the first commission of a felony and to five years each for the use of a firearm in the four subsequent commissions of a felony.
Palmer’s life sentences on the aggravated murder charges make him ineligible for parole or credit for time served and good behavior.
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Crystal Graham
