On a warm August evening in Richmond, Virginia, the life of an eighteen-year-old male, Jessie Crumble-Bullock, was tragically cut short. On that Saturday, August 13, 2022, what began as a simple trip to a corner store in his Gilpin Court neighborhood ended in a fatal burst of violence. As Jessie was returning home, he was pursued by an individual who opened fire on him.
Fleeing for his life, Crumble-Bullock managed to make it inside his home on St.
Paul Street, but the sanctuary he sought was shattered as the gunfire continued. In a heroic attempt to protect her son, his mother, Jessica Crumble, was also struck by the hail of bullets. Both mother and son were rushed to a nearby hospital for medical attention. While Jessica Crumble survived her injuries, Jessie Crumble-Bullock succumbed to his wounds later that same night.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Richmond Police Department officers who responded to the scene apprehended a suspect near the location of the homicide. The individual taken into custody was nineteen-year-old Delmontae Lewis, a resident of Richmond. Initially, Lewis was charged with possession of a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon with an extended magazine.
Following a thorough investigation into the events that transpired that evening, a grand jury indicted Delmontae Lewis on more severe charges related to the death of Jessie Crumble-Bullock and the injury of his mother. The charges brought against Lewis included murder, malicious wounding, the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and shooting into an occupied dwelling. The case was scheduled to go to a jury trial in January of the following year.
