Martin L Hunt, Murder, Virginia 2015

Newport News man, Martin L Hunt, 24, was sentenced to multiple life sentences for his role in a gang-related racketeering conspiracy that engaged in multiple murders, attempted murders, and drug trafficking.

According to court documents, Hunt, along with members of the 36th Street Bang Squad gang, were involved in multiple violent crimes in Hampton and Newport News between March and June 2015. On April 6, 2015, Hunt and three other members of the 36th Street Bang Squad drew firearms and began shooting at people outside a Newport News home. Two teenagers were killed during this incident.

Casings collected from the April 2015 double-murder scene matched a 9 mm firearm that Hunt had obtained from a family member in March 2015. Those casings also matched the gun used during a March 15, 2015 shooting of P.D. and A.J. in Newport News. That shooting left both victims with serious and life-threatening injuries. Hunt bragged afterwards to other gang members that he had gone ‘op shopping,’ which meant shooting at rival gang members.

On June 5, 2015, Hunt and co-conspirators Shaquone Ford, 26, of Newport News, Jamaree Green, 24, of Hampton, and Corey Sweetenburg, 24, of Newport News, drove to a Hampton high school looking for a rival gang member suspected of murdering a 36th Street Bang Squad member two days prior. Once at the location, other 36th Street members and associates joined the group and followed a Hampton City school bus in two vehicles, waiting for their target to get off at a stop. When the target exited the bus, the defendants and other gang members and associates chased him into an apartment complex. The defendants carried loaded firearms and planned to kill the target if he was found, which he was not.

Hunt used social media to taunt rival gang members, acquire firearms, and brag about the exploits of the 36th Street Bang Squad.

On December 10, 2019, after a seven-week jury trial, Hunt was convicted on eleven counts of crimes in aid of racketeering, including two murders, three attempted murders, and using a firearm in each crime. He was sentenced to life in prison, followed by two consecutive life sentences and an additional twenty-five years.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Howard J. Zlotnick and Brian Samuels and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy E. Cross from the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Chad McHenry from the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section.

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