NORFOLK, Va. — A local man was sentenced to more than eight years to serve for a crime spree in his neighborhood last September.
Daniel Joseph Ferguson Jr., 28, was sentenced on Friday to serve eight years and six months in prison after he pleaded guilty to committing a hate crime, brandishing a rifle at his neighbors, and shooting into another neighbor’s vehicle last year.
Around 8 p.m. on Sept. 3, 2023, Ferguson roamed the Alden Heights neighborhood while holding an AR-style rifle with a fully loaded magazine. Off of Boxwood Circle, Ferguson rummaged through one neighbor’s vehicle that was parked in their driveway. The neighbor noticed Ferguson and went outside to confront Ferguson. Ferguson then pointed his rifle at the neighbor, and the neighbor backed away until Ferguson left the property.
Shortly afterward, Ferguson trespassed in the backyard of a Noble Street home while the family living there was holding an evening Bible study outside. Ferguson (who is white) approached the family (whose members are Brazilian), pointed his rifle at them, threatened to kill them, and said, “Get off my land.” The family members scrambled to hide from Ferguson, and Ferguson went around to the front of the home and tapped on the windows with his rifle before departing.
After that incident, Ferguson saw a vehicle drive past and approach a stop sign. The driver slowed down at the stop sign, noticed Ferguson standing several feet away with his rifle at the ready, and began to drive off. As the driver went through the intersection, Ferguson fired one round through the rear window of the vehicle. The bullet missed the driver and lodged in the passenger door, but the resulting shattered glass injured the driver.
The driver and several other neighbors who observed Ferguson roaming the neighborhood with his rifle called 911, and numerous Norfolk Police Department officers arrived to take Ferguson into custody. While Ferguson was being transported to the Norfolk City Jail, patrol car video captured Ferguson saying racial epithets in reference to minority groups as well as Ferguson urging the officers to let him go so he may hunt and kill those minority groups.
Ferguson was later granted a secured bond over the Commonwealth’s objection during a hearing in Norfolk General District Court. Later the same day, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office secured an emergency substantial risk order from a Norfolk magistrate that temporarily barred Ferguson from possessing any firearm. The Commonwealth successfully argued in a subsequent Circuit Court bond appeal hearing that Ferguson’s bond be revoked and that his emergency substantial risk order be extended.
Ferguson pleaded guilty on Aug. 7 to two counts of misdemeanor brandishing, one count of misdemeanor hate crime assault, one count of felony attempted malicious wounding, and one count of felony shooting into an occupied vehicle. In exchange for Ferguson’s plea, the Commonwealth agreed to dismiss an additional firearm charge. There was no agreement to Ferguson’s sentence. Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. accepted Ferguson’s plea agreement.
At sentencing on Friday, the Commonwealth argued for Ferguson serve a longer sentence than the high end of his state sentencing guidelines — which recommended just under four years in prison — due to Ferguson’s motive of hate and his impulsive, random acts of violence on the day of his offenses. After hearing arguments from the Commonwealth and defense counsel, Judge Martin sentenced Ferguson to serve eight years and six months in prison and suspended another five years on the conditions that Ferguson complete 10 years of good behavior and an indeterminate period of supervised probation.
“Neither racism, nor antisemitism, nor bias of any kind will get quarter from me in Norfolk,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Trying to shoot someone in and of itself is a serious felony deserving of a prison sentence. Daniel Ferguson shot at the victim for racial reasons and then said that he wanted to kill ‘Blacks and Jews.’ He poses a danger to our community significantly higher than the average shooter, and our recommendation and the judge’s sentence reflect that reality. I will continue to promote public safety by focusing our resources on serious cases like this one.”
