In the early morning hours of September 4, 2022, a night out with friends in Norfolk, Virginia, ended in tragedy for 27-year-old Michael I. Rivera-Rubert. After spending time at a nightclub, Rivera-Rubert and a group of friends, including Marco Jaime Hicks, returned to an overflow parking lot in a strip mall on North Military Highway where their vehicles were parked.
The group was seen on surveillance footage chatting for about twenty minutes in what appeared to be an uneventful gathering.
The seemingly calm atmosphere was shattered when Hicks walked over to his pickup truck, retrieved a pistol, and walked back towards Rivera-Rubert. In a sudden and violent act, Hicks put the pistol to Rivera-Rubert's head and fired a single shot. The wound was fatal, and Michael Rivera-Rubert was pronounced dead at the scene when police arrived around 2:25 a.m. following reports of a gunshot. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Hicks and the other individuals present fled the scene in two vehicles. A bystander who heard the shot from a nearby business rushed out to try and help, but it was too late.
The investigation into the death of Rivera-Rubert led Norfolk Police to review surveillance footage from the strip mall and other local businesses. The video evidence was crucial, clearly showing a man matching Hicks's description, including a distinctive tattoo of a rifle running down the side of his face, committing the act. Following this, Marco J. Hicks, a 30-year-old from Virginia Beach, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm. Initially, Hicks identified himself in the video but falsely claimed another person in the group was the shooter.
Despite his initial denial, the evidence against him was overwhelming. On December 4, 2023, Marco Hicks pleaded guilty to an amended charge of first-degree murder. As part of the plea agreement, the charge for the use of a firearm was dropped. Subsequently, Hicks was sentenced to 32 years in prison for the murder of his friend.
