Police: 2 fast-food workers shot, killed in separate incidents
One suspect turned himself in; other remains at large
HAMPTON — Two young fastfood workers in one of Hampton’s busiest shopping districts were shot to death in separate slayings over the past three-plus months.
Both — one a 17-year-old in his first job and the other a 29-yearold assistant manager — were killed in restaurants less than a mile apart in the city’s Coliseum area after men they were arguing with opened fire.
Police say the victims knew their killers in both cases, and in the second slaying — at a Wingstop restaurant Feb. 14 — the worker was allegedly slain by a fellow employee.
One suspect turned himself in, and police have filed charges against a second, who hasn’t been apprehended.
“The Hampton Police Division is committed to providing closure for the two families impacted by these tragic incidents,” Police spokesman Shaun Stalnaker said last week.
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 about 5:30 p.m.
The man immediately approached Fullerton — beginning an altercation and then pulling out a gun and shooting, 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 after at Riverside Regional Medical Center.
Police 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.
He was on the run for three months before walking into Hampton police headquarters Monday and turning himself in. Detectives haven’t revealed a suspected motive, but said Fullerton and James-Sanders knew each other.
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, shot him, 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.
Authorities have obtained an arrest warrant charging Isaiah Daqwon Harris, 25, with second-degree murder and related charges in the slaying. He remains at-large.
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 near the beach.
Smith said her son called her every day — often including with video chats — and they spoke with each other Feb. 14.
“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 active in the 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 visit New York, Minnesota and Tennessee, among other places.
Smith said Giles originally was supposed to be off from work Feb. 14.
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 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.
Said Stalnaker: “Detectives have been working diligently and are using every resource they have to bring the suspects to justice.”