NORFOLK, Va. – A Norfolk judge sentenced 23-year-old Gary Dewayne Toone Jr. on Friday to seven active years in prison for voluntary manslaughter following the shooting death of 33-year-old Matthew Scott Philbrick.
The morning of Oct. 14, 2021, Norfolk Police and emergency personnel responded to a report of a dead body at the Quality Inn on Premium Outlets Boulevard. Before the shooting, Mr. Philbrick could be seen on security footage roaming around the hotel rolling a suitcase full of clothes. He eventually knocked on the door to Mr. Toone's room. Another individual in Mr. Toone's room opened the door, and Mr. Philbrick asked if anyone knew where the laundry room was located. Multiple individuals in the room, including Mr. Toone, told Mr. Philbrick that they did not know where the laundry room was, then Mr. Toone slammed the door in Mr. Philbrick's face. Mr. Toone then began to walk away from the door when Mr. Philbrick forced the door back open and rushed toward Mr. Toone. Mr. Toone pulled out a firearm and shot Mr. Philbrick, who was unarmed, once in the torso before fleeing with the other individuals who were in the room. Mr. Toone was pronounced dead shortly after the medics arrived.
Norfolk Police located Mr. Toone several hours later at a different hotel in Chesapeake, and Mr. Toone eventually confessed to shooting Mr. Philbrick. Mr. Toone pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on June 16, 2022, and Judge Everett A. Martin accepted his plea.
On Friday, Judge Martin sentenced Mr. Toone to 10 years, with three years suspended, for voluntary manslaughter. Mr. Toone's suspended sentence is conditioned upon uniform good behavior while in custody and for 10 years following his release from prison as well as indeterminate supervised probation upon his release.
"Gary Toone may have had the legal right to use non-deadly force, but he had no right to use deadly force to kill," said Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi. "What Mr. Toone did is manslaughter, and Mr. Toone has been held accountable for the crime he has committed."
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle L. Newkirk led the prosecution of Mr. Toone'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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