An 18-year-old man was shot dead on Saturday during a meeting arranged to carry out a firearm transaction on Main Street in Ridgeway, Virginia, and two people — an 18-year-old and a 14-year-old — are now in custody charged with his murder, the Henry County Sheriff's Office said in a statement published on Sunday.
Source: WHEE Radio, publishing the Henry County Sheriff's Office release
The shooting happened on Saturday, October 31, at 310 Main Street in Ridgeway, a small town in Henry County in southern Virginia, just north of the North Carolina state line and south of Martinsville. The victim was identified by the sheriff's office as Jaidyn Maki Manns, 18, who died as a result of the injuries he sustained in the shooting.
According to the sheriff's office, preliminary findings indicate that individuals arranged to meet at that location for the purpose of conducting a firearm transaction. During the encounter, a shooting occurred and Manns was fatally wounded. Investigators are still working to determine the exact circumstances of what happened during the meeting, and the sheriff's office has not said who it believes fired the shots or how the people involved knew each other.
A search that first pointed toward North Carolina
In the hours after the shooting, the search for whoever fled the scene crossed the state line. Dispatch records in neighbouring Rockingham County, North Carolina, show a bulletin sent out on Saturday for a gunshot-wound suspect out of Henry County, last seen on Main Street in Ridgeway in a black SUV and believed to be heading toward North Carolina, possibly onto NC-14. The sheriff's office said that through investigative efforts and information provided by members of the community, deputies were able to identify and locate a vehicle believed to be involved in the incident, and two individuals were taken into custody.
Both suspects charged with second-degree murder
The adult in custody was identified as Tyquel Zion Hampton, 18. He is charged with second-degree murder under Virginia Code section 18.2-32 and with larceny of a firearm under section 18.2-95, the sheriff's office said. Hampton is being held at the Henry County Adult Detention Center. The charges are allegations: Hampton has not been convicted of anything, and he is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise.
The second person in custody is a juvenile, aged 14, who faces the same two charges — second-degree murder and larceny of a firearm. The juvenile, who is not being named, is being held at the W.W. Moore Juvenile Detention Facility in Danville, Virginia. Both Hampton and the juvenile are being held without bond, according to the sheriff's office.
The legal road ahead
Under Virginia law, second-degree murder — a malicious killing that is not premeditated — carries a prison term of five to 40 years on conviction. For a 14-year-old charged with murder, Virginia law allows the possibility of being tried as an adult, but only after a juvenile court transfer hearing; no such decision has been announced in this case, and the sheriff's office has released no court dates. The case also lands on a specific Virginia rule: since 2020, private firearm transfers in the state generally must go through a background check, a safeguard officials say is meant to keep face-to-face gun sales between strangers from turning into unregulated, and sometimes deadly, meetups.
The sheriff's office has not said who fired the fatal shots, what exactly happened during the firearm transaction, whether everyone at the meeting knew each other, or when Hampton will first appear in court. Those details are expected to come out as the investigation and the court process move forward.
The sheriff's office thanked the citizens who immediately stepped forward to assist during the incident, and also thanked the Henry County Department of Public Safety, Ridgeway Rescue and the Ridgeway Fire Department for their help.
What happens next
The homicide investigation remains active and ongoing, the sheriff's office said, with investigators continuing to gather evidence and conduct interviews. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Henry County Sheriff's Office at 276-638-8751 or Crime Stoppers at 276-63-CRIME (276-632-7463). Ridgeway sits on the US-220 corridor that carries traffic — including heavy truck traffic — between Martinsville and Greensboro, North Carolina, and deputies have not announced any further arrests.