NORFOLK, Va. – On Friday, a Norfolk Circuit Court judge sentenced 22-year-old Dearon Earnest Mosley to 12 years and 8 months in prison for shooting and paralyzing a teenager in a convenience store parking lot over what is believed to have been a marijuana deal gone wrong.
On Nov. 5, 2020, video surveillance from the Save Mart Convenience Store on Ingleside Road showed the then-17-year-old victim pulling into the store parking lot behind Mr. Mosley’s car. Mr. Mosley exited his vehicle and approached the victim’s car, and the victim rolled his window down to hand Mr. Mosley a face mask before Mr. Mosley entered the store. After making a purchase and exiting the store, Mr. Mosley got back in the driver’s seat of his car, and the victim got out of his vehicle to join Mr. Mosley in Mr. Mosley’s front passenger seat. After a few minutes, the victim got out of Mr. Mosley’s car and sprinted back to his own. Mr. Mosley gave chase, dove to tackle the victim, and the two began to fight inside the victim’s car.
The victim was able to get Mr. Mosley out of his car and start to drive away but, as he was driving, Mr. Mosley pulled out a firearm and shot at the victim at least four times. One of the bullets Mr. Mosley fired hit the victim in the neck, severing his spinal cord and rendering him quadriplegic for life. Mr. Mosley ran back to his vehicle and fled the parking lot.
Norfolk Police responded to the shooting, and paramedics transported the victim to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Mr. Mosley turned himself in at the Police Operations Center a few hours later.
On March 28, 2022, Mr. Mosley pleaded guilty to aggravated malicious wounding and to the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. On Friday, Judge Michelle J. Atkins sentenced Mr. Mosley to serve 20 years in prison, with 10 years and four months suspended, for aggravated malicious wounding, and three years for the use of a firearm. Mr. Mosley’s suspended sentence is conditioned upon three years of supervised probation and 10 years of uniform good behavior upon his release from prison.
"Dearon Mosley will spend the next decade of his life in prison, a sentence he has earned," said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. "But the victim will live the rest of his days with only the memory of being able to walk, write, or wave. We have held Mr. Mosley accountable, but the victim will live with Mr. Mosley’s crime forever. My thoughts are with him first."
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle L. Newkirk prosecuted Mr. Mosley’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth. Please contact Nia Tariq at 757-620-5454 or nia.tariq@norfolk.gov for more information.
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