Man sentenced to 18 years in Portsmouth shooting outside daycare
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A man who was found guilty of second-degree murder and two other charges in the 2023 murder of 34-year-old Rocco Nixon will serve 18 years in prison, the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office announced Tuesday.
Previously: Portsmouth man found guilty of second-degree murder
Ryheem Jasaun Hargrow Pugh will serve 18 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised probation after he was found guilty by a Portsmouth Circuit Court jury of the second-degree murder charge, as well as charges of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and shooting in the commission of a felony in the June 1, 2023 murder of Nixon following a three-day trial.
Hargrow Pugh was sentenced to serve 15 years on the second-degree murder charge, and three years for the use of a firearm in commission of a felony. He was sentenced to three years for shooting in commission of a felony, with that running concurrently with the second-degree murder sentence. His active sentence will be 18 years, and then he will serve three years on supervised probation.
According to the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, evidence at trial indicated that on the morning of June 1, Pugh and Nixon arrived at the Gifted Minds Academy daycare center on King Street, where Nixon’s children attended. He was in a vehicle with the mother of Nixon’s children, as well as the children, while Nixon was in a different vehicle.
Both Hargrow Pugh and Nixon got out of their vehicles, and Hargrow Pugh fired shots at Nixon, with bullets hitting Nixon multiple times. Nixon later died at the hospital.
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