Norfolk man sentenced to 17 years for shooting 4 people outside Legacy nightclub
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NORFOLK — A Norfolk man was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in prison for shooting and wounding four people outside a downtown nightclub. Among the injured was a sheriff’s deputy who was working to control the crowd when the shots were fired.
The sentence issued to Tyshawn Marquis Gray was above the maximum that state sentencing guidelines had recommended, according to a release from the Norfolk commonwealth’s attorney’s office. The guidelines suggest a punishment based on the circumstances of the crime and the defendant’s background.
Gray, 26, had been scheduled to go to trial on the charges this week, the release said. Instead, he agreed to plead guilty to one count of aggravated malicious wounding, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of using a firearm to commit a felony. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges he faced and agreed to seek no more than 17 years.
The shooting happened in the early morning hours of Aug. 5, 2022, outside Legacy Restaurant & Lounge on East Plume Street — at a time when the city was already reeling from other high-profile shootings.
Gray had gone to the nightclub with friends that night, and got into a fight with some other patrons as the club was preparing to close, according to prosecutors. After security officers pulled Gray away from the fight, he walked to his truck, retrieved his semi-automatic pistol, and fired eight rounds into a crowd of people standing outside. None suffered life-threatening injuries.
The wounded included the sheriff’s deputy, two Navy sailors and one of Gray’s friends. Gray was arrested immediately afterward and has been in jail without bond since.
Norfolk city officials and City Council began cracking down on nightclubs in late 2021 after multiple shootings and other violent incidents. Legacy’s conditional use permit to operate as a nightclub was revoked shortly after the shooting, and its application for a permit to sell alcohol was denied by City Council last year. The club closed a few months later.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
