Hampton killings: One arrest, one man sought
2 shot at fast-food restaurants within past 3 months
HAMPTON — Police have made progress on solving two recent slayings at fastfood restaurants in the city’s busiest shopping district — though there’s more work to be done.
The first killing was the day before Thanksgiving, when a 17-year-employee only three weeks into his first job was gunned down inside a Rally’s on West Mercury Boulevard in the Coliseum area.
The second was on Valentine’s Day, when police say a 29-year-old assistant manager at a Wingstop was killed by a co-worker. The restaurants are less than a mile apart.
But police have made an arrest in the Rally’s case — with a man turning himself on a murder charge Monday. Detectives also have issued arrest warrants in the Wingstop case, and are actively looking for the suspect.
Here’s a rundown on the two cases, according to recently filed court records and the latest information from police:
Rally’s
At 8 p.m. Nov. 22, a man walked into the Rally’s on West Mercury Boulevard with a black handgun on his hip.
He asked for Brian Fullerton, a 17-year-old Hampton High School student who had started working at the burger joint three weeks earlier. Though Fullerton wasn’t there, the man asked others when he’d be back.
The man returned to the restaurant at 5:30 p.m. the next day, court documents say. Fullerton was working a four-hour shift. The armed and masked man — identified by police as Elijah Malik James-Sanders, 25, of Newport News — didn’t order food.
Instead, he immediately went around the front counter and “without provocation,” approached Fullerton, according to an arrest warrant in Hampton Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court. He then began punching Fullerton in the head.
As they fell, a black handgun fell from James-Sanders’ waist. He grabbed the gun, “pulled Fullerton’s upper body into an upright position” and shot him once in the head.
Fullerton — who would have turned 18 five days later — died a short time later at Riverside Regional Medical Center. On Thanksgiving, Fullerton’s first paycheck — for $330 — arrived into his bank account.
Police have said Fullerton and James-Sanders knew each other, though they haven’t revealed a motive.
“I don’t think it was random,” Fullerton’s mother, Veronica Fullerton, told the Daily Press in November. “I think it was someone that Brian knew.”
An affidavit said detectives identified James-Sanders from Rally’s surveillance footage, prior mugshots and social media accounts.
He was on the run for three months, and the U.S. Marshals Service offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. But James-Sanders walked into police headquarters Monday and turned himself in. He’s now being held without bond at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, and has a preliminary hearing scheduled April 1 in Hampton Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Wingstop
Two workers began arguing while on the job about 8:15 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Wingstop on Coliseum Crossing.
The argument led to a physical altercation between assistant manager Travell Lavon Giles, 29, and employee Isaiah Daqwon Harris, 25.
Giles’ mother said last week that her understanding is that her son 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.
During the ensuing fight, Harris pulled out a handgun and fired at Giles several times.
Responding police officers found Giles’ body on the kitchen floor, a few feet from the front counter, an affidavit said. They also found seven .40-caliber cartridge casings.
On Feb. 16, a Hampton magistrate signed off on arrest warrants charging Harris with second-degree murder and related charges. Police withheld Harris’ name for about two weeks as they attempted to find him, but decided to go public with it. Harris remains at large. According to court records, Harris has several felony convictions stemming from an October 2017 hit-and-run in Newport News.
Police said he stole a Toyota Corolla from a woman’s driveway — and later ran several stoplights as he eluded police at a high speed. He then crashed into another vehicle — containing two adults and an 11-month old boy — near the McDonald’s at 27th Street and Jefferson Avenue.
The Corolla flipped, and police arrrested Harris after a foot chase. They also charged him with stealing credit cards and electronics — a laptop, tablet and cell phone — from a different car on 27th Street.
Harris pleaded guilty in 2018 to felony hit and run, grand larceny, credit card fraud and other counts, and was sentenced to five years.
In 2021 — while he was locked up at a state prison in Sussex — Harris was charged with four counts of malicious wounding-by-mob stemming from a July 2020 prison brawl. He pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was given an additional six months.
It wasn’t clear when Harris was released from prison, or when he landed the job at Wingstop. A Department of Corrections spokesman didn’t have that answer last week, and a Wingstop manager declined to talk about the case.
Anyone with information that can help police — including Harris’ whereabouts — is asked to call the Hampton Police at 757-727-6111 or the Crime Line at 1—888-LOCKU-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.