On a tragic afternoon in Newport News, Virginia, the lives of two men were cut short in a burst of violence that stunned the community. Akhi Ar-Rad Abdul Haqq Murad, a 55-year-old Black male, was fatally shot on August 8, 2019, inside the Dunn's River Jamaican-Caribbean Restaurant and Grocery where he worked. The incident, which also claimed the life of the restaurant's 62-year-old owner, Barrington Anthony Brown, unfolded in a manner that was both sudden and shocking to those who witnessed
it.
Patrons at the restaurant described a tense atmosphere preceding the shooting, with an argument reportedly taking place. A man, later identified as 37-year-old Darrel Cheney, became increasingly irate. A nurse who was inside the establishment at the time with her patient recounted how the irate man, unprovoked, pulled out a firearm. In a chilling sequence of events, Cheney allegedly shot one of the men at the register before shooting the other man who had returned from the back of the restaurant. Amid the chaos, as the nurse hid under a table, the gunman reportedly approached her, told her "God is with you," and encouraged her to stand up before leaving the scene.
Thanks to the quick thinking and detailed descriptions provided by witnesses, law enforcement was able to locate and apprehend Darrel Cheney within minutes of the shooting. He was taken into custody without further incident. During the subsequent investigation, police reported that Cheney confessed to the murders of both Akhi Ar-Rad Abdul Haqq Murad and Barrington Anthony Brown, though his motive remained unclear.
The legal proceedings that followed took an unexpected turn. In 2020, after evaluations by two psychologists determined that he was insane at the time of the killings, Darrel Cheney was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was subsequently committed to the Department of Behavioral Health. However, in a development that brought renewed grief and fear to the victims' families, Cheney was granted a conditional release in April 2024. The families of Akhi Ar-Rad Abdul Haqq Murad and Barrington Anthony Brown expressed their profound disappointment and concern for their safety and that of the community following this decision.
