A 40-year-old man was sentenced in Norfolk Circuit Court to 63 years in prison for the first-degree murder of 30-year-old Shelvin Duntae Alston and the use of a firearm in the commission of that crime.
Michael Allen Faulkner was convicted by a jury in September.
According to court documents, on May 30, 2020, Faulkner was standing outside the Tinee Giant convenience store on East Princess Anne Road chatting with other people, including Alston.
Video surveillance footage showed that the conversation Faulkner was having with Alston turned heated, with Faulkner removing his jewelry and setting belongings down as if to prepare for a fist fight.
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, and he drove out of the store parking lot heading in the same direction as Alston.
Shots were fired a few blocks east near Oaklawn Avenue. Alston was shot four times – once in the side of his head, once in the back of his head, and twice in his back and 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.
Faulkner was charged in June 2020 with second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of murder. The charges were dismissed at Faulkner’s May 2021 preliminary hearing in Norfolk General District Court. In June 2022, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office secured indictments from a grand jury against Faulkner for first-degree murder and for the use of a firearm.
On Sept. 13, 2023, a jury found Faulkner guilty as charged.
On Dec. 1, Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. sentenced Faulkner to 63 years in prison and three years of post-release supervision.
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Crystal Graham
