VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A Virginia Beach man received the maximum sentence after he was found guilty last October in the fatal shooting of a man in a parked car outside a friend’s home, the city’s Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said.
Sa’Quan Tyreese Ward, 19, of Virginia Beach, was sentenced Friday by Circuit Court Judge Salvatore Iaquinto to 43 years in prison for the 2024 shooting of Kalani Matthaeus Bailey-Cortez. A jury had found Ward guilty of second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony following a five-day trial that ended Oct. 17.
According to the Commonwealth’s evidence, on April 5, 2024, Bailey-Cortez, and the mother of Bailey-Cortez’s child left a party separately, with the mother texting Ward to pick her up.
19-year-old found guilty of second-degree murder in Virginia Beach shooting: CA
Bailey-Cortez left the party with a friend and drove the friend home, according to the Commonwealth’s evidence. After his friend went inside the home, an SUV driven by Ward crashed into Bailey-Cortez’s parked car.
Ward came out of the SUV and fired five shots at Bailey-Cortez’s car as Bailey-Cortez tried to drive away, according to the Commonwealth’s evidence. Bailey-Cortez was pronounced dead at the scene…