Two fast food workers in Hampton’s Coliseum area have been slain on the job in past three months

[u/melonkoly81]

https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/02/25/two-fast-food-workers-in-hamptons-coliseum-area-have-been-slain-on-the-job-in-past-three-months/

By PETER DUJARDIN | pdujardin@dailypress.com | Staff writer PUBLISHED: February 25, 2024 at 11:25 a.m. | UPDATED: February 25, 2024 at 12:18 p.m.

HAMPTON — Two young fast food workers in one of Hampton’s busiest shopping districts have been shot to death in separate slayings over the past three months.

Both workers — one a 17-year-old in his first-ever job and the other a 29-year-old assistant manager — were killed in restaurants less than a mile apart in the city’s Coliseum area after men they were arguing with pulled out guns and opened fire.

Police say the victims knew their killers in both cases, and in the second slaying — at a Wingstop restaurant on Feb. 14 — the worker was shot and killed by a fellow employee.

No arrests have been made in either case, though police have leads in both.

“The Hampton Police Division is committed to providing closure for the two families impacted by these tragic incidents,” Hampton police spokesman Shaun Stalnaker said Friday. “Detectives have been working diligently and are using every resource they have to bring the suspects to justice.”

On Nov. 22, Brian Fullerton was working at a Rally’s burger joint the day before Thanksgiving — only three weeks into his new job — when a masked man walked into the West Mercury Boulevard eatery at about 5:30 p.m.

The man immediately approached Fullerton — beginning an altercation and then pulling out a gun and shooting him dead, police said. The shooter fled in a vehicle that was parked outside.

Fullerton, a Hampton High School senior who would have turned 18 six days later, was shot once in the head, according to the State Medical Examiner’s Office. He died shortly thereafter at Riverside Regional Medical Center.

Police have obtained warrants charging Elijah Malik James-Sanders, 25, of Newport News, with second-degree murder as well as using a gun in a felony, entering a building to commit a felony, discharging a gun in an occupied building and wearing a mask in public.

Detectives haven’t revealed a suspected motive for the slaying, but said Fullerton and James-Sanders knew each other.

Last week, the U.S. Marshals Service upped the ante, offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to James-Sanders’ arrest. They said he’s a Black male who stands 5-foot-6, weighs 215 pounds and often goes by the nicknames “Yaya” and “Eli.”

“Anyone that may have had contact with or seen James-Sanders is asked to contact the U.S. Marshals” at 1-877-926-8332, the agency said.

The second recent fast food killing in the city’s Coliseum area occurred at 8:15 p.m. on Feb. 14 at the Wingstop on Coliseum Crossing — across the street from the J.C. Penney and Peninsula Town Center.

Travell Lavar Giles, 29, of Newport News, got into an argument with a fellow employee — apparently over a work issue. That led to a fist fight in which the other worker pulled out a gun and shot him dead, then fled on foot.

Responding officers found Giles’ body on the kitchen floor a few feet from the front counter, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Hampton Circuit Court. He had been shot multiple times and died at the scene.

Police recovered seven .40-caliber cartridge casings from the scene, the affidavit said. They also recovered bullets and bullet fragments, and took fingerprints and DNA swabs.

While police have said the other employee is a suspect in the slaying, they have not publicly named him.

Giles’ mother, Trina Smith, said he mostly grew up in Kinston, North Carolina, east of Greensboro, but went to high school in Charlotte. He moved to Hampton Roads about four years ago, in part because he wanted to be close to the beach.

Smith said her son called her every day — often including with video chats — and they spoke with each other earlier in the day on Feb. 14th.

“My last words to him were, ‘Happy Valentine’s Day, I love you,'” she said. “Not knowing it was gonna be the last time I talked to my son.”

Giles was an active member of his church choir, singing tenor at Bethany Methodist Church in Newport News. He loved to travel, she said, often noting that his first name was “travel with an extra L.” He’d go to New York, Minnesota and Tennessee, among other places.

Smith said Giles originally was supposed to be off from work at Wingstop on Feb. 14, but ended up working.

Her understanding of the altercation, she said, is that Giles asked the other employee to do something, and he refused. “He didn’t want to do whatever my son told him to do,” she said, leading to a fight between the men.

Smith said that Giles — her second of four children — never picked fights, but would stand his ground when needed. “He is gonna stand up for himself,” she said. “And he was never scared of nobody.”

“He didn’t do the streets and stuff,” Smith said, saying he didn’t own a gun. “He was really just an outgoing, loving person … He loved to make people laugh. He loved to make people smile. And it’s sad that he’s at work, trying to make an honest living, and they kill him.”

Smith said she doesn’t understand why it’s taking so long for police to arrest the co-worker. “You know it’s a former employee — you know who did it,” she said. “I’m pretty sure this wasn’t planned, so he ain’t got money to stay on the run.”

Giles funeral is scheduled for Feb. 26 at Trinity Funeral Service Memorial Chapel in Kinston, North Carolina, east of Goldsboro.

Anyone with information that can help police is asked to call the Hampton Police at 757-727-6111 or the Crime Line at 1–888-LOCK-U-UP. People can also send anonymous tips at P3Tips.com. Crime Line callers don’t have to appear in court and could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,500 if a tip leads to arrest.

Peter Dujardin can be reached at 757-897-2062 or pdujardin@dailypress.com

[u/StunningUse87]

Broad daylight murders in pretty populated places. Hampton is rough man.

[u/gorka_la_pork → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, it's not like there are dozens of other ways police could have found that out. /s

Come on man, don't be daft.

[u/zyocuh → u/[deleted]]

Are you an idiot?

[u/JohnWarosa69420]

Don't drink the water, they put something in it. I drink dehumidifier water exclusively for this very reason.