These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is significantly updated from the calendar version.
Around 7 on a Thursday morning, a man at home heard what sounded like someone kicking in his front door. He grabbed his loaded pistol and looked over the banister.
Five people were coming through the open door — dressed in black, in masks and gloves.
(Though he didn’t know it yet, two of them — 29-year-old Cortez Hunt and 23-year-old Traquan Waller — already had felony convictions, so neither of them could legally have a gun. Both later pleaded guilty to having one anyway. Go figure.)
The man fired twice. The five people turned around and ran across his front yard to a waiting car. Another person was in it — six total. As they ran, two of them fired back at the house. One bullet hit the corner of the window he was watching them from.
Luckily, no-one was hurt.1
The man recognized the car. It was a grey sedan he’d seen about a week earlier, when his nephew, 18-year-old Dylan Carter, had come by with his girlfriend, 36-year-old Crystal Trent. So the man called his nephew. Carter apparently answered and said he didn’t do it: “They” had made him, and held him in the car (which his girlfriend did indeed own).
(Only in writing that last paragraph did I realize that Trent was literally twice Carter’s age — but that’s what the news report says.)
Deputies found the car shortly afterward and pulled it over. There were six people in it, and they started by detaining Carter and Trent.
But then Hunt jumped into the driver’s seat and took off with the other three.
Police gave chase west on U.S. 460 at more than 80 mph, with Hunt swerving and passing on the shoulder.
Here’s where it gets funny. Prosecutors said Waller had paid whoever was originally driving $20 to fill up before the trip out to Appomattox. The driver didn’t do that, and the car ran out of gas just inside the Lynchburg city limits.
Can you imagine the scene in that car as the gas slowly dwindled away, until the car finally sputtered and rolled to a stop?
Two men (it had to be Hunt and 25-year-old Tahlib Watson) stayed in the car. Waller, 23, and a 17-year-old from Lynchburg ran; both were caught shortly after.
None of them had a gun on them. The car was another matter: deputies towed it and found a .380 handgun and cartridges inside, along with black masks and gloves. Investigators found a .380 casing and a .45 casing in the homeowner’s front yard, and a bullet in the wall by his window.
According to the prosecutor, the group were members of, or associated with members of, Blood- and Crip-affiliated street gangs in Lynchburg.
All six were charged with attempted murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and destruction of property. Hunt picked up an extra count of eluding.
Waller pleaded guilty the following summer to attempted murder, armed entry with intent to commit larceny, use of a firearm in a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, gang participation, and destruction of property. He got 55 years with 37 suspended — 18 to serve. The commonwealth’s attorney said afterward, “The victim is happy with the outcome for this co-defendant and the Commonwealth is satisfied that justice has been served as it pertains to this defendant.”
Hunt pleaded to the same list plus eluding and got 10 years and four months to serve, on conditions that include testifying truthfully at his co-defendants’ trials.
Dylan pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, armed breaking and entering, use of a firearm, gang participation, and felony property damage. He got six years.
All three owe their share of $1,000 in restitution to the homeowner and are barred from his property. The last I can find on Trent and Watson was that they were headed for jury trials, and the 17-year-old was awaiting sentencing.
Prosecutors told the court the homeowner has had trouble sleeping since, put in an alarm system, and hasn’t felt safe in his own house. His nephew knew the way there.
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Sources
News
WSET ABC 13 covered the arrests, Trent’s bond hearing, and two plea hearings.
6 suspects detained after home invasion shooting, vehicle pursuit, and manhunt: Officials (The arrests)
Appomattox County judge grants bond to woman tied to home invasion and manhunt (Trent’s bond)
Man enters plea agreement in Appomattox home invasion, sentenced to 18 years (Waller’s plea)
Man enters plea agreement in Appomattox home invasion, will serve 10 years (Hunt’s plea)
Justin Faulconer covered the charges and three sentencings for The News & Advance; the Carter sentencing story carries the prosecutor’s detailed account of that morning.
Six charged with attempted murder in Appomattox County home invasion (The charges)
Lynchburg man gets 18 years in attempted murder case in Appomattox (Waller)
Lynchburg man gets 10 years in home invasion case in Appomattox (Hunt)
Appomattox man gets six years in home invasion, attempted murder case (Carter)
Six arrested after home invasion and chase (WDBJ)
Six arrested after home invasion in Appomattox County (WSLS)
Altavista woman among six suspects arrested for home invasion, shooting (Altavista Journal)
If you heard that in George Carlin’s voice, you’ve watched too much Thomas the Tank Engine.
I can imagine he'd have trouble sleeping; I sure would. Every little sound . . . But his own nephew -- that would be especially weird.