In the early morning hours of June 10, 2016, a fatal encounter unfolded in the parking lot of a Motel 6 on Williamsburg Road in Sandston, Virginia, claiming the life of 20-year-old Walter Darnell Adams Jr. Henrico Police responded to a call of a shooting at approximately 2:55 a.m. and discovered two male victims with gunshot wounds. One of the men was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, while Adams was pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds to his chest and
arm.
The investigation into the death of the young Sandston man quickly identified two persons of interest. Authorities later arrested Winston Bernard Black Jr., then 36 years old, in connection with the homicide. Prosecutors detailed that the deadly confrontation stemmed from a drug transaction in the motel parking lot. Black had attempted to purchase marijuana from Adams using a counterfeit $100 bill. When Adams realized the currency was fake and returned it, Black responded by fatally shooting him.
Winston Bernard Black Jr. ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Walter Darnell Adams Jr. For this crime, he received a 25-year prison sentence. This sentence was to be served concurrently with a 70-year sentence Black was already facing for three other murders that occurred in Portsmouth in 2011 and 2012.
