Man Sentenced to 8 Years After Pleading Guilty to Shooting at Norfolk Police Detectives, Injuring 1 in 2022
NORFOLK, Va. — Ali Antwan Moore, 22, was sentenced on Friday to serve eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to shooting at three Norfolk Police detectives, seriously injuring one, in 2022.
On Aug. 31, 2022, Detectives Logan A. Luketic and Justin W. Marriott and Sergeant Edward M. Lord were patrolling the area surrounding Ballentine Boulevard in an unmarked black SUV in search of a stolen vehicle. As they drove up a residential street, the detectives observed two cars driving suspiciously close together and saw that both drivers were wearing ski masks. Detective Luketic, who was driving the other detectives, followed the two suspicious vehicles as the other detectives checked the vehicles’ license plates. The two vehicles eventually parked in the middle of Vincent Avenue, blocking the street completely. Both drivers got out and began talking to people standing on the side of the street, among them Mr. Moore. Moments later, the detectives got confirmation that the cars were stolen, and Detective Luketic pulled over on the avenue behind one of the stolen cars. The unmarked SUV had no emergency lights on.
Within seconds, Mr. Moore, having spotted the unmarked SUV but not realizing that it was a police vehicle, pulled a firearm from his waistband and began shooting at the SUV. Two of the bullets went through the windshield, and both hit Detective Luketic in the shoulder and chest. Detective Luketic’s bulletproof vest saved his life, but Mr. Moore’s shots broke Detective Luketic’s collarbone and lodged two bullets in his body. Despite his wounds, Detective Luketic was able to return fire until his arm gave out, and he got out of the driver’s seat to take cover at the back of the SUV. Detective Marriott, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, dropped to the floorboard and was able to slide out of the door and retreat to the back of the SUV as well without injury. Sergeant Lord, who was in the back seat and wearing a body-worn camera that captured the shooting, was able to return fire as he took cover without injury. In the course of the exchange of gunfire a third individual who was on the street was wounded in the leg. It is not clear whether the officers, Mr. Moore, or some other actor fired that shot.
Mr. Moore fired three shots in total and fled the scene on foot. Investigators located Mr. Moore the following day, and the Norfolk Special Operations Team took him into custody. After his arrest, Mr. Moore confessed to investigators that he was present at the scene, that he armed himself before going outside, and that he shot at the SUV when it pulled up because he did not know who was inside and did not know that they were police officers. Mr. Moore also believed that a wrongdoer in a black SUV had shot his friend earlier in the day.
On Friday, Mr. Moore pleaded guilty to aggravated malicious wounding, using a firearm in the commission of aggravated malicious wounding, and maliciously shooting into an occupied vehicle. Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted Mr. Moore’s plea and sentenced him to serve eight years in prison, suspending another 22 years of incarceration on the conditions that Mr. Moore remain of uniform good behavior while in prison and for 22 years following his release, complete five years of supervised probation following his release, and have no contact with any of the involved detectives or their families.
“Detectives Luketic and Marriott and Sergeant Lord are heroes,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “We are lucky that they are still with us. They faced danger — and Detective Luketic suffered an injury that will remain with him forever — to protect the community. We owe them our gratitude for the work that they have done. Mr. Moore had no excuse for firing on the officers. No matter who he thought they were, he did not have the right to shoot, and he must pay the price for his crime.”
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily A. Woodley prosecuted Mr. Moore’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Homicide Detectives Daryl R. Jarvis and La'Toya N. Mitchell as well as Virginia State Police First Sergeant Shawna E. Griffith led the investigation.
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