NORFOLK, Va. — Four people who were convicted for their roles in a deadly 2020 shooting have been sentenced, the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney said on Friday.
Norfolk police officers were called to Park Crescent and Norchester Avenue on the morning of August 17, 2020, after learning that someone was shot there. That location is just a few streets away from Norfolk State University's campus.
Charles Anthony Sparks, 33, of Chesapeake, was taken to the hospital, where he died shortly after arriving.
Investigators arrested four people: 51-year-old Peter William Babar and 29-year-old Donell Small Jr. were charged directly with Sparks' death, while 55-year-old Delphine Diane Simmons and 32-year-old Krystal Bowers were charged with being accessories after the fact.
Prosecutors said the shooting was the result of a feud between Sparks' wife and Bowers over a debit card disagreement. On the day of the shooting, Sparks agreed to meet with Bowers and her boyfriend, Donell Small, to resolve the issue.
Sparks and his sister-in-law drove to the home where Small lived with his mother, Delphine Simmons. They met with Small in the street outside the home, and shortly afterward, Simmons and her boyfriend, Peter Babar, pulled up in another vehicle.
Prosecutors said Babar charged at Sparks with a gun, while Sparks' sister-in-law got out of her vehicle and began arguing with the other three suspects. A gunshot then rang out from where Babar and Sparks had been.
Sparks, who was unarmed, hunched over and began to go back to his sister-in-law's car when he was shot several more times by Small.
All told, Sparks had been shot four times in his legs. His sister-in-law took cover from the gunfire, then brought him back into her car and drove him to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
The gunshot wounds severed Sparks' femoral artery and he died from blood loss within minutes of his arrival.
The suspects fled before police arrived at the scene, and in the hours after the shooting, Simmons bought new cell phones for them. She was later detained at her home where police found thousands of dollars in cash and a parking pass from a Virginia Beach hotel on Simmons. The remaining three suspects were found at that hotel the following day, where they were also in possession of thousands of dollars in cash.
Small told investigators that he did shoot Sparks, but it was in self-defense.
Small and Babar were convicted of voluntary manslaughter following a trial in June of 2022. Small was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison and Babar was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Bowers pleaded guilty to acting as an accessory after the fact of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 months in jail, but all time was suspended on condition of good behavior and no contact with Sparks' family.
Simmons pleaded guilty to the same charge and was also sentenced to 12 months with 11 months suspended on the same conditions.
In a separate bench trial in January of 2023, Babar was convicted of being a violent felon in possession of a firearm. Babar was sentenced to five additional years for that charge on March 31.
