Norfolk Jury Convicts Man of First-Degree Murder in Fatal 2020 Shooting
NORFOLK, Va. – A Norfolk jury on Wednesday convicted 40-year-old Michael Allen Faulkner of the first-degree murder of 30-year-old Shelvin Duntae Alston and the use of a firearm in the commission of that crime.
On May 30, 2020, Mr. Faulkner was standing outside the Tinee Giant convenience store on East Princess Anne Road chatting with other people, including Mr. Alston. Video surveillance footage showed that the conversation Mr. Faulkner was having with Mr. Alston turned heated, with Mr. Faulkner removing his jewelry and setting belongings down as if to prepare for a fist fight. Mr. Faulkner tried for several minutes to further engage Mr. Alston, but bystanders attempted to diffuse the situation, and Mr. Alston left the parking lot and crossed the street heading east.
Within less than two minutes, Mr. Faulkner got into his white Toyota 4Runner with another individual in the passenger seat, he drove out of the store parking lot heading in the same direction as Mr. Alston, and shots were fired a few blocks east near Oaklawn Avenue. Mr. Alston was shot four times — once in the side of his head, once in the back of his head, and twice in his back — and died at the scene. An eyewitness saw an individual matching Mr. Faulkner’s description fleeing the scene by getting in the passenger seat of the same white SUV and being driven off.
Mr. Faulkner was charged in June 2020 with second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of murder, however the charges were dismissed at Mr. Faulkner’s May 2021 preliminary hearing in Norfolk General District Court. In June 2022, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office secured indictments from a grand jury against Mr. Faulkner for first-degree murder and for the use of a firearm.
On Wednesday, after about three hours of deliberation following the two-day-long trial, the jury found Mr. Faulkner guilty as charged. Mr. Faulkner is docketed for sentencing before Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. on Dec. 1.
“Mr. Faulkner gunned down Shelvin Austin in cold blood,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “That is why we indicted Mr. Faulkner and presented the evidence to a jury of Mr. Faulkner’s peers. We owed it to Mr. Alston’s memory and to his family to do everything we could to hold Mr. Faulkner accountable, and we have done just that.”
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle L. Newkirk and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Caswell W. Richardson are prosecuting Mr. Faulkner’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Investigator Kyle Austin served as the lead investigator.
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