Richmond woman charged with murder in Petersburg apartment parking lot

Bill Atkinson, Petersburg Progress-Index
·3 min read

PETERSBURG – A Richmond woman has been arrested in connection to last week’s shooting death of a man at the parking lot of a downtown apartment complex.

Jasmine Yancey, 24, has been charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. She is being held at Riverside Regional Jail in Prince George County pending her first court appearance.

Yancey is charged with killing 29-year-old DeVaughan Lawrence Nov. 28 in the parking lot of the Perry Street Lofts, one of several complexes in that immediate area. Witnesses told police they heard 5-6 gunshots around 4 p.m. that day, and officers arrived to find Lawrence lying face up in the parking lot.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A police statement said Yancey was arrested without incident with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force.

No motive was given for the death.

Lawrence’s murder was the 23rd homicide in Petersburg this year, surpassing the record mark of 22 set in 2020. Twenty-one people were killed in the city last year, and 18 before that.

Petersburg’s homicide victims this year are:

  • Javarius Desmore, killed March 14 in the 1400 block of Pin Oak Drive;

  • Antonio Walker, killed April 5 in the 100 block of Henrico Street;

  • Shaun Hankins, killed April 24 in the 20 block of Leavenworth Street;

  • Brian Chambers, killed May 24 at the Budget Motor Inn on North Jamestown Drive;

  • Tewana Williams, killed May 27 in the 1000 block of Talley Avenue;

  • Anthony Williams, killed June 3 in the 800 block of North Gillfield Drive:

  • K'Von Morgan, a 10-year-old child killed June 17 on Juniper Road in the Pecan Acres Estates community;

  • Ke'Asia Powell, killed June 22 in the 800 block of East Wythe Street;

  • Lucky Dwayne Burress, killed June 26 in the 1600 block of Berkeley Avenue;

  • Darrell D. Morton, killed July 6 at the Crater Square Apartments on South Crater Road;

  • Kirk Nims, killed July 11 in the 500 block of Halifax Street;

  • Johnny W. Englehart Jr.; killed Aug. 8 in the 1000 block of Rome Street;

  • Matthew Gibbs, killed Aug. 24 in the 1800 block of Brandon Avenue;

  • Adrionna B. West, killed Sept. 3 in the 700 block of High Street;

  • Fatin Rhone, killed Sept. 23 in front of Ivy Gates Apartments on South Sycamore Street;

  • William Henry Hayes Jr., killed Oct. 2 in the 300 block of South West Street;

  • Hannah Vaughan, killed Oct. 6 at the intersection of County Drive and Wagner Road

  • Walter Rudolph Sykes III, killed Oct. 14 in the 1100 block of Sixth Street;

  • Robert M. Booker Jr., killed Oct. 23 in front of the Family Dollar store at Walnut Hill Plaza on South Crater Road;

  • Wayne Kelley, killed Nov. 7 in the 900 block of Logan Street;

  • Robert Pugh, killed Nov. 12 in the 1100 block of Custer Street;

  • Renee Johnson, killed Nov. 27 as part of a murder-suicide at a residence in the 2600 block of Oak Hill Road; and

  • DeVaughan Lawrence, killed Nov. 28 at the Perry Street Lofts apartment complex in downtown Petersburg.

Arrests have been made in 12 of the cases − Chambers, Tewana Williams, Burruss, Nims, Gibbs, West, Rhone, Hayes, Sykes, Booker, Pugh and Lawrence. The Renee Johnson murder suspect, identified as 56-year-old Edward Robertson Jr., killed himself after killing his sister, police said.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Richmond woman charged with murder in Petersburg apartment parking lot