Woman Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Carjack, Brandishing Gun at Woman in 2024

NORFOLK, Va. — Rekesia L. Gray, 22, pleaded guilty on March 6 to attempting to carjack a woman while brandishing a gun in Ocean View last spring.

Around 4:30 p.m. on April 1, 2024, the victim was sitting in the driver’s seat of her car, parked in a driveway in the 9000 block of Wells Parkway, with her driver’s window rolled down. Ms. Gray, while wearing a black outfit and a mask, walked up to the victim, pointed a black BB gun — which was not a firearm but had the appearance of one — at her, and demanded her car keys. When the woman refused, Ms. Gray grabbed the woman’s cell phone out of her hand, threw it across the yard, demanded her keys again, and threatened to shoot her. When the woman refused again, Ms. Gray walked around the car, reached into a passenger-side window, took the woman’s purse, and ran away.

Some of the victim’s neighbors who witnessed the incident called police, chased after Ms. Gray, and detained her until officers arrived. After the officers read Ms. Gray her Miranda rights, Ms. Gray admitted that she attempted to steal the woman’s car and that she had stolen her purse. Ms. Gray was charged with attempted carjacking, using a firearm in the commission of that felony, and felony larceny.

Ms. Gray was experiencing mental health issues at the time of the incident and was initially deemed not competent to stand trial. Ms. Gray subsequently and successfully underwent mental health restoration services from April through October 2024.

On March 6, Ms. Gray entered an agreement to plead guilty as charged to attempted carjacking and to misdemeanor brandishing of a firearm in exchange for the Commonwealth dismissing the other two felony charges. Judge Tasha D. Scott accepted Ms. Gray’s plea agreement and set her sentencing hearing on May 9. There is no agreement to Ms. Gray’s sentence, and Ms. Gray will be screened for therapeutic alternatives to incarceration ahead of her sentencing hearing. Ms. Gray faces up to 11 years in prison, though her state sentencing guidelines are likely to recommend a significantly shorter sentence.

“It is clear that Ms. Gray committed a dangerous and frightening crime. It is also clear that Ms. Gray’s mental illness — while not so severe as to negate her guilt — played a significant part in her actions,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “A case like this is a prime example of why mandatory sentences are unjust, should be repealed, and fail to take into account the unique facts of each case.

“The law technically would have permitted us to impose a three-year mandatory sentence on Ms. Gray for the ‘use of a firearm’ in this offense, even though Ms. Gray possessed no real firearm, but doing so would deprive Ms. Gray of the ability to present her mitigating evidence to the court and deprive the judge of her discretion in doing justice. Now, at sentencing, both sides will have the chance to make their case fairly. Ms. Gray may serve more than three years in this case, or she may serve less, but a neutral judge will be able to fashion the sentence that fits her actions.”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily A. Woodley is prosecuting Ms. Gray’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Cody W. Morgan led the investigation.

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