A 29-year-old James City County man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison after he lied to a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent during a murder investigation.
Malik Corey Brown lied to the agent following a shooting at the Burnt Ordinary Apartments in October 2017, according to a United States Department of Justice news release.
The shooting resulted in the death of 20-year-old James City County resident Adren Garnett.
The shooting has been described as gang-related, and a defendant in the murder case, Jordan Allen Davis, 25, has connections to the 59 Brims, a faction of the Bloods street gang, according to court documents.
According to the news release, Brown invited gang members to the Burnt Ordinary Apartments on Oct. 23.
When the members arrived, an altercation ensued between two “rival” members. Shots were fired, leaving Garnett dead and a second man wounded.
Brown told agents he did not have contact with one of the gang members at the shooting, which was a lie, the release said.
James City County Police arrested three men in connection with the murder.
Malcolm Shemar Lee, 19, and Marques Stephens-Graves, 22, are charged with second-degree murder in the death of Garnett.
A grand jury will hear their cases and decide whether to indict them into circuit court Wednesday.
A related charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon against Davis was dropped in the Williamsburg-James City County General District Court in December.
Court documents state Davis instructed Lee and Stephens-Graves to shoot Garnett and the other man.
Brown has been involved in other shooting- and gun-related incidents in the Williamsburg area in recent years.
In August 2016, seven men, one of whom was Brown, were arrested in connection with a shooting at the Crust restaurant in Williamsburg.
The shooting left a security guard injured after an altercation between “two groups” went awry.
The charges were dropped against six of the seven men. The seventh man, John Lee Johnson, 23, was sentenced to eight years in prison in early February for shooting the guard.
