A Norfolk Circuit Court judge sentenced a 35-year-old man to four years in prison for shooting at a barking dog outside his Fairmont Park home in 2020.
Neal Delanta Cook also had an additional eight years suspended on the condition that Cook has no contact with the victims as well as complete five years of uniform good behavior and an indeterminate period of supervised probation upon his release.
According to court records, on Jan. 15, 2020, around 9:30 p.m., Cook and another individual were walking by a home near the corner of Bapaume and Bellevue avenues.
The home’s video surveillance system captured footage of Cook shooting at the residence after a dog in the yard began barking.
Bullets struck the home, but the residents and dog were not injured.
On Feb. 12, 2020, Norfolk Police arrested Cook at his home in the same neighborhood and recovered a firearm.
Cook is a previously convicted felon and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
On Aug. 28, 2023, Cook pleaded guilty to two counts of being a non-violent felon in possession of a firearm and to one count of maliciously discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling.
Judge David W. Lannetti accepted Cook’s plea with no agreement to his sentence. On Friday, Lannetti sentenced Cook.
Cook is currently serving a prison sentence for a separate offense he committed in Virginia Beach after the Norfolk shooting, and this new sentence will run consecutively to the current one.
“The law protects human beings and our companion animals, and we are glad that the victims and their pet are all right,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “The defendant engaged in violent and dangerous behavior, and he has earned his sentence.”
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle L. Newkirk prosecuted Cook’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Detective Matthew M. Nordan led the investigation.
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Crystal Graham
