A Henrico County man was sentenced Monday to serve 48 years in prison for shooting and wounding three people — partially paralyzing one victim for life — during an argument rooted in part by COVID-19 occupancy restrictions at a Waffle House restaurant during the pandemic.
The shooting stemmed from a dispute between two groups of four people that started when “the four that were served made fun of the four that were outside waiting to be served during COVID-19 occupancy restrictions. It’s as simple as that,” said Assistant Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Nael Abouzaki.
Until that night in February 2021, the people in the two parties “never met before, never crossed paths, [had] no issues whatsoever,” the prosecutor said.
But after the group inside finished eating and left the restaurant, they poked fun of the group still outside. An argument soon escalated into gunshots. Jonathan D. Scott, then 24, who was in the group heckling the others, pulled out a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and sprayed the other party with gunfire, hitting three.
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Jared Dunkley, then 27, was struck in the mid-section of his back, which left him paralyzed for life from the waist down.
“He was the one that was trying to tell everyone to stop [arguing] and get in the car — that this was stupid,” Abouzaki said. “So the whole entire time, Jared was the least culpable. And what’s so sad — he is serving a life sentence because he will never be able to walk again.”
What is also sad, Abouzaki noted, is that Scott had never been in trouble before the Feb. 28, 2021, shooting. He had only a traffic offense on his record.
“And the questions was, what was an appropriate sentence?” Abouzaki said.
At the end of Monday’s sentencing hearing in Henrico Circuit Court, Judge John Marshall decided the appropriate punishment was nearly five decades behind bars. He sentenced Scott to 83 years with 35 years suspended on Scott’s earlier guilty pleas to aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding and felony use of a firearm.
The punishment was a significant upward departure from discretionary state sentencing guidelines, which called for an active prison term of eight years and nine months on the low end and 19 years and seven months at the high end.
Dunkley entered the courtroom Monday in a wheelchair and testified about the events that to his circumstance.
Abouzaki hopes the case will send a message to the community about the tragic consequences of gun violence — for both the victims and the perpetrators.
Jonathan Scott, pictured left, was sentenced on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, to serve 48 years in prison for shooting three people, including Jared Dunkley, pictured right, on Feb. 28, 2021 after a dispute at a Waffle House restaurant. Dunkley was left paralyzed from the waist down for life.
According to the prosecutor’s statement of facts, in February 2021 while the COVID restrictions were still in place, Dunkley and three friends traveled in two vehicles to the Waffle House at 5460 Williamsburg Rd. after a “night out downtown.” It was 1:40 a.m.
“They tried to get into the Waffle House, however they were not allowed inside due to COVID-19 occupancy restrictions,” Abouzaki said. “So they were told to wait outside the restaurant until the other patrons inside left.”
At some point later, another group that included Scott and his three friends left after finishing their meals. “In a way, they make fun [of Dunkley’s group] outside, saying, ha, ha, you haven’t gotten any food. So an argument began between the two groups. And there was a lot of back and forth, a lot of yelling.”
The two groups of four then decided to take their dispute across the street to the All Day Inn at 5500 Williamsburg Rd. “There’s more arguing, more back and forth,” the prosecutor said. “Then the defendant and this three friends leave.”
Scott, driving an SUV, made a left turn out of the hotel parking lot and drove a short distance on Sanbourne Parkway towards Williamsburg Road. As the SUV approached a stop sign, Scott stopped, got out and emptied a Glock 9mm pistol of 15 rounds towards the other group, striking three of them.
In addition to Dunkley, Shani Austin was hit by gunfire in her right upper thigh and buttocks area, and Shanice Jackson was struck in her right hip. A fourth friend dodged the gunfire.
After the shooting, responding officers administered first aid to the three victims while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
Police were able to identify potential suspects after obtaining meal receipts and copies of credit card purchases for two of the four people in Scott’s party. One of the receipts was paid by Scott. He was arrested eight days later, on March 8.
Dunkley “was the one that was trying to calm everyone down,” Abouzaki said. “And he is the one that’s paralyzed for the rest of his life. For no reason whatsoever.”
29 photos from The Times-Dispatch archives
In February 1956, “Teen Age Party,” a televised music and dancing show for the younger crowd, was broadcast on Saturdays from the WRVA Theatre in downtown Richmond.
In 1963, Virginia Polytechnic Institute Associate Entomologist J.M. Amos demonstrated a mole trap. Though he said moles weren’t a gardener’s top enemy, their runways were used by other rodents that eat plant roots or bulbs.
This November 1971 image shows a monument in eastern Henrico County that commemorated the “calamitous year 1771” flood in Richmond. On another side, the monument included an inscription from Ryland Randolph citing 1772 and memorializing his parents.
In August 1953, members of the Monacan Junior Woman’s Club sought volunteers for the upcoming blood drive at Tuckahoe Elementary School in Henrico County. While Mrs. Allan J. Carter called prospects, Mrs. William F. Thornton worked at the typewriter.
In May 1963, Florence H. Rose outlined registration procedures to students Joan Voss and Harold Costley at the Richmond Youth Employment Center on Ninth Street downtown. By July that year, the center, operated by the Virginia Employment Commission and the Richmond Federation of Parent-Teacher Associations, had helped employ about 9 percent of Richmond’s youth.
In August 1968, trash was strewn along a street in downtown Richmond. In late June and early July, the eight-day “Fight Litter ’68” campaign gathered a cleanup force of 150 city workers and made progress in seven areas. But the Advertising Club of Richmond planned a follow-up appeal to city residents to join the local fight against litter.
In July 1959, a Tredegar Co. worker collected parts at the company’s new plant on Courthouse Road in Chesterfield County. One of company’s jobs at the time was doing machine work on missile stabilizers.
In February 1961, Adrienne Price, a senior at Westhampton College in Richmond, got ready for geography class. She recently had been voted “best dressed” at the school, which is affiliated with the University of Richmond.
In November 1944, Mrs. Alfred Adkins of Gordo, Ala., and her two young daughters visited the Travelers Aid Society in Richmond en route to Williamsburg, where her military husband was stationed. The society was a charter member of the Richmond War and Community Fund and offered travel assistance to servicemen and civilians.
In March 1990, a young bagpiper was part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade procession on West Broad Street in Richmond.
In March 1954, Perry Sinnickson, 8, eagerly mounted a horse with little assistance from instructor Stewart Felvey. They were at the Deep Run Pony Club in Goochland County, a new equestrian program for juniors and the first club of its kind in Virginia.
In November 1964, St. Catherine’s School students Cindy McDonough (left) and Rozzie Kemper (right) accompanied teacher Lucile Tang Liu to class. Liu, the new Upper School librarian and a French and Chinese history teacher, was from China and moved to Richmond from Montreal as one of several international teachers added to the school faculty.
In June 1966, 8-year-old summer day camper Larry Harris surveyed the water facilities at Camp Thunderbird, which the YMCA opened that year in Chesterfield County. For more than 50 years before, the Boy Scouts had operated Camp Shawondasee there.
In December 1947, T.E. Burton Jr. diagnosed a patient at his doll hospital on Forest Hill Avenue in Richmond. Burton, a state Highway Department employee, was part-time chief surgeon at the doll hospital he ran out of his home. He got into the repair business when his two young daughters received as gifts antique china dolls that were badly in need of work. Burton averaged about 10 patients a week, with a busy season around the holidays.
In October 1982, Tim Smith checked the progress of a bunch of bananas in Highland Springs. His father, George, began cultivating the banana grove 10 years earlier after a friend gave him a plant as a gift. The plant grew and multiplied into 89 banana trees, ranging from 6-inch shoots to 18-foot trees. (George Smith said he didn’t eat the fruit — he grew them because he said they were beautiful plants.)
In June 1973, the pews were full at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond for a service marking the 50th anniversary of the ordination of the Most Rev. John J. Russell, retired bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.
In April 1985, Blanche Whitaker operated the elevator one last time at Central Fidelity Bank in downtown Richmond. Whitaker was retiring after more than three decades and was believed to be the last manual elevator operator in the city. With her departure, the bank planned to convert the elevator to automatic control.
In December 1991, the Westover Hills Neighborhood Association held a dedication ceremony for the recently erected bronze markers in the median on Westover Hills Boulevard in South Richmond.
In August 1989, Coppola’s Deli owner Joe Coppola (right) and manager Bill Gerloff carefully assembled a 40-foot Italian hero in the Carytown eatery. The giant sub required three cases of tomatoes, 50 pounds of cold cuts and 15 pounds of provolone cheese. The sandwich was made for the Carytown Watermelon Festival, where patrons could buy 5 inches for $5.
In November 1965, Richmond Mayor Morrill M. Crowe cut a ceremonial ribbon to mark the inauguration of the Eastern Airlines passenger service from Byrd Field to New York. The pilot for the flight, Capt. R.D. Tyler, and stewardess Margaret McLaughlin held the ribbon.
In November 1961, state Sen. John J. Wicker dressed as a colonist and, having flown to Boston, presented the governor of Massachusetts with documents — and live turkeys — to make the case that Virginia held the first Thanksgiving in 1619, two years before the Pilgrims held a celebration at Plymouth.
In January 1972, the Rev. Constantine N. Dombalis, leader of Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Richmond, sprinkled holy water on the foreheads of two parishioners at the beginning of his tour to perform blessings of the homes for his 300 parishioners.
In July 1954, Mrs. Arthur Franklin worked on a display at Jeter’s, her harness shop at 221 E. Main St. in Richmond. The shop was founded in 1888 and had been a supplier of saddles and bridles for Abercrombie & Fitch, the New York sporting goods house. By the 1950s, a key customer was Colonial Williamsburg: It equipped its horses with harnesses and other accessories made by Jeter’s in strict accordance with 18th-century design.
In September 1975, handler Bobby Barlow showed off his basset hound, Champion Slippery Hill Hudson, who was named best in show at the Virginia Kennel Club dog show at the Arena in Richmond. At left is judge George C. Ehmig, and at right is show executive Lawrence W. Bracken Jr.
In October 1959, the rain-swollen Rivanna River flooded the Albemarle County Fairgrounds, postponing the opening of a carnival. A pelican that was part of a wildlife exhibit for the event stayed dry while tents and vehicles were under several feet of water.
In the 1960s, the Artmobile for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was essentially a rolling exhibit. The updated version, a museum and classroom on wheels, is expected to stop at schools, retirement facilities and community centers.
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