NORFOLK, Va. — A Norfolk man was sentenced to five and a half years Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to charges related to an online marketplace sale that ended in violence.
On Sept. 6, 2022, Lataevion Matthews met with a woman outside his residence to buy a PlayStation that the victim listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace, according to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Office.
The woman was driven to Matthews' residence by her fiance. She suspected the cash Matthews paid her with was counterfeit. When she tried to talk to him about it, he went back inside his home and shut the door. She knocked on the door and a different person answered and refused to let her talk with Matthews and shut the door once more.
The woman then knocked again, and the same person answered with a gun, so she left and called 911.
As the victim was walking away, Matthews exited the home and followed her down the road then fired at her several times. They managed to get to her fiance's car with her children in the backseat, and they drove several blocks away.
Several bullets struck the vehicle, with some entering the backseat where her children were, but no one was injured.
The shooting was captured on a neighbor's surveillance camera.
When Norfolk police arrived and detained Matthews, he tried to fight off the police and kicked an officer in the chest, which was recorded on the officer's body cam.
Matthews was convicted of a felony as a juvenile and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
On Tuesday, Matthews pleaded guilty to attempting to commit first-degree murder, being a convicted violent felon in possession of a firearm, and assaulting a law enforcement officer.
He will spend five and a half active years in prison, with an additional 10 years suspended on the conditions that Matthews have no contact with the victim and her family and that he complete five years of uniform good behavior as well as five years of supervised probation.
Norfolk police remind the community that they've marked "E-Commerce Exchange Zones" at each patrol division that are under 24-hour video surveillance and require no prior authorization or police response for people wanting to make legal transactions.
