On the last day of 2013, a dispute over bicycle parts at a Hampton skate park tragically escalated, ending the lives of two young men. Kenneth Jake Wilson, a 20-year-old male, and his friend, Donivan K. Walker Jr., 21, were fatally shot on December 31, 2013. Wilson, a 2011 graduate of Hampton High School, was working as a first-year apprentice at an electric company and had recently signed a lease to be roommates with Walker.
The promising futures of both men were cut short by Jordan
Charity, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident. In a chilling admission to authorities, Charity stated that the argument over bike parts led to the deadly encounter. He armed himself with a shotgun and went to the skate park with the intent to kill. The attack was brutal; Charity shot Walker three times and Wilson twice, at one point standing over them to fire at close range. After the shooting, he fled the scene on a moped, carjacked a woman, and led police on a chase before being apprehended.
The legal proceedings that followed brought some measure of closure to the grieving families. Jordan Charity pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of using a gun during the commission of a felony. In exchange for his plea, four other charges were withdrawn. Despite his defense attorneys arguing that he had been bullied and sexually abused as a child, the court sentenced Charity to 168 years in prison. The judge cited the need for accountability and the danger Charity posed to society as reasons for the lengthy sentence. While the sentence brought a sense of justice to the victims' families, it was a somber end to a case that began with a senseless argument and resulted in the tragic loss of two young lives.
