CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — A man is now in custody and charged with murdering Amazon delivery driver Chelsea Johnson on Friday night outside a Chesterfield warehouse, police said.
Johnson and murder suspect Darryl M. Charity Jr. lived together in Richmond, CBS 6 confirmed.
Chesterfield Police responded to a shooting near the warehouse off Bellwood Road Friday night at about 9:30 p.m. There they found Johnson, 33, suffering from a gunshot wound. She died on the scene.
Johnson's sister Yoland Robertson shared photos of her sister CBS 6.
"How do I describe her life to someone who's never met her?" Robertson said in a statement. "With 7 words: The best sister anyone could ask for."
She said Johnson was a "caring mother, a goofball, and a fighter."
Charity Jr., 31, was arrested on Saturday and charged with second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was booked at the Chesterfield County Jail without bond.
"The fact that he's charged with second-degree, I didn't think suggests that they think it's only a second-degree. That could easily be increased down the road," CBS 6 Legal Analyst Todd Stone said. "The purpose right now of getting a second-degree murder charge in place is to get them picked up, held in jail, and to continue the investigation without having that threat to the public."
Stone said second-degree murder charges are considered the "default level" in Virginia for a murder charge.
"But in domestic cases, they're all always a little bit unique because sometimes there's text messages, there's phone messages, there's notes that one might write to another, you can show a motive sometimes in a domestic case more easily, because the two people knew each other, and there might be something to go on for the police," Stone said.
Watch: Deadly shooting outside Amazon facility was domestic-related
According to court records, Charity Jr. pleaded guilty to a felony drug crime last year and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
His entire sentence was suspended.
Though not uncommon, Stone said, that could play a role in this case.
"That suspended time, they can 'show cause,' so they can ask to revoke some of that suspended time, based on the new conduct," Stone said. "They still have to establish that he committed this offense, or that he did something to violate the terms of his suspended sentence. But that's another potential offense that he could face."
A GoFundMe for Johnson can be found here.
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