NORFOLK, Va. — In court Monday, a judge certified charges including second-degree murder, robbery and two counts of using a firearm against 20-year-old Kri'Shawn Beamon.
Beamon is accused of killing William & Mary running back Nate Evans.
On March 21, Emergency dispatchers got a call about gunfire at West 43rd Street and Colley Avenue around 11:50 p.m. Officers found Evans, 19, shot on the sidewalk. He died there.
Court documents previously unveiled that Evans planned to meet his accused killer "to conduct a drug transaction" the night Evans died in Norfolk.
At the preliminary trial, witness testimony from Evans’ best friend since 7th grade, proved that there was an attempted drug transaction.
The witness said that he and Evans smoked weed the night of March 21 and then drove to sell marijuana to someone Evans messaged on Snapchat.
The witness said they met someone named "Pocket" on 43rd Street and that “Pocket” got in the back of their car to inspect the marijuana. The witness then said that was the moment he realized "Pocket" was Beamon.
The witness told the judge that Beamon checked out the weed and that Evans warned him, saying, "don't try anything." The witness said seconds later, Beamon took off toward Colley Avenue and Evans chased after him.
The witness said he heard three gunshots and then ran to hide behind a house. The witness said that he went to check on Evans and found him dead. That’s when the friend said he went to his apartment and flushed the rest of the drugs down the toilet.
Police said that they found Beamon’s phone beside shell casings at the scene. Beamon’s attorney, Andrew Sacks, said that his client is innocent.
"At trial, the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did this. Based on what the prosecution has presented, it doesn't appear they have anybody that they've identified who can say they saw what happened, much less that our client did anything. The commonwealth hasn't shown that he fired a weapon, hasn't shown that he did anything to the victim, and we look forward to the day when Kri'Shawn is exonerated,” said Sacks.