NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Newport News man was sentenced to five years in prison for unlawfully buying a gun that was tied to three area shootings.
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said 22-year-old Khalil Rashad Armstrong gave his cousin money to buy a specific gun for him. He was 20 years old at the time, making him too young to buy the handgun himself.
The Department of Justice said that the cousin, Destiny Na'iymah Davis, was 21 when she lied to buy the gun for Armstrong in February of 2021.
Months after Davis bought the gun for Armstrong, police picked it up at the scene of a suspected gang shootout.
Investigators ran a forensic report on it, that suggested the gun had been used in two other shootings: one on the same day it was purchased, and another in May that led to property damage.
Armstrong pleaded guilty to being part of the illegal purchase of the gun and using a controlled substance while having the weapon and was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday.
Davis was sentenced to 18 months of probation back in December, which prosecutors said was due to "mitigating circumstances and her swift acceptance of responsibility for her role in the offense."
