SHALAMAR FITZGERALD
NOW DECLARED FUGITIVE AFTER NOT SHOWING FOR HEARING
A man arrested two years ago but yet to stand trial in the shooting death of a Blackstone man is now a fugitive.
Shalamar Deals Fitzgerald, 43, of Rice, had been free on bond since Oct. 2024. He failed to appear last Monday, July 14th, in Nottoway Circuit Court for a “Status Hearing.” His where-abouts at presstime remained unknown. A jury trial had been set for August 14th.
Fitzgerald is charged with First Degree Murder and several other charges, including two counts of Maliciously Shooting at an Occupied Vehicle, two counts of Shooting a Firearm from a Vehicle, in the May 16, 2023 of 40-year-old Keith Dewarren Hicks.
The incident occurred late Tuesday afternoon, May 16th, 2023 and involved two vehicles traveling on East Colonial Trail (Rt. 460 East) in the Burkeville/Rice area of Nottoway County.
KEITH HICKS THE VICTIM
Sheriff Jones said a weapon was discharged from one of the vehicles and struck Hicks, who was riding in the second vehicle. The driver of the second vehicle drove Hicks to Southside Community Hospital in Farmville, where Hicks was later pronounced dead.
There were reports after the shooting — unconfirmed — that Hicks might not have been the intended target. Fitzgerald was arrested 11 days after the crime — on May 27, 2023 — by Town of Farmville Police.
According to Nottoway Circuit Court, the bond allowing Fitzgerald to go free was “granted by order of this Court entered on October 3, 2024, upon agreement of counsel. The bond motion and order have been sealed per order of the court.”
Defendant Fitzgerald is being represented by attorney David Moss of Amelia.
Victim Keith Hicks would have celebrated his 43rd birthday this past Thursday, July 17th.
He was a member of the local Henderson family, which in the second half of 2023 lost three male family members: former Nottoway High School stand-out QB Antonyo Henderson (42, in a motorcycle accident on Rt. 360 on July 17, 2022); Deshane “Red” Henderson (36, in a single-vehicle crash at Fletcher Chapel & Blackstone Roads in Lunenburg County on Dec. 2nd, 2023); and Reco D. Hester, (31, who died Dec. 4th, 2023 in an area hospital after an illness).
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