VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A man who was arrested in 2016 for his involvement in an attempted robbery that ended in the murder of one of the shooters at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront was sentenced to 50 years in prison Tuesday.
Deandre Evans Womack, 24, of Franklin, was sentenced for First Degree Felony Murder, Robbery, Attempted Robbery, Malicious Wounding, Armed Burglary and four counts of Use of a Firearm. The judge sentenced Womack to 148 years in prison with 98 years suspended, leaving 50 years to serve.
Deandre Evans Womack
Womack was found guilty after a trial on April 24. On the evening of August 6, 2016, Womack, Michael Scott, 30, of Suffolk, and Garry Ta’Sheen Hamlin, 26, of Suffolk, went to Virginia Beach to commit a home invasion robbery at a home on 22nd Street at the Oceanfront. Two French exchange students were inside the home at the time of the invasion.
Womack and his accomplices held the occupants at gunpoint and demanded their property. Hamlin fired a gun, which inadvertently struck Scott in the head. Scott collapsed, landing on of the exchange students, who was also struck by the same bullet. Womack and Hamlin fled. The exchange student survived the shooting.
An officer on bike patrol noticed Hamlin running from the home and began a foot pursuit. Hamlin threw several items, including one of the exchange students’ wallets and a .40 caliber pistol. He was apprehended a short distance away. The officer discovered blood on Hamlin’s hands, shirt and the pistol.
Later that evening, Womack went to the home of Michael Scott’s girlfriend and told her he thought Scott had been shot in Virginia Beach. She drove to Virginia Beach and ended up at the crime scene after getting directions from Womack.
Early in the morning on August 7, 2016, Womack met with Scott’s girlfriend a few blocks away from the crime scene and gave her Scott’s phone. Womack admitted his involvement in the robbery to Scott’s girlfriend and provided her with details only known to the suspects and police. Womack was arrested in Franklin a few days later.
Womack has several prior traffic infractions on his record and was on a deferred finding in Franklin for Assault and Battery of a Family Member at the time of the incident.
Related links:
One dead, one hospitalized after shooting at Virginia Beach Oceanfront
Man shot, killed at Oceanfront was shot by friend during robbery attempt
