Case of shooting in Waterside garage to go to grand jury

NORFOLK

The fight in the Waterside parking garage seemed over when a passer-by shouted for the three men trading blows to stop.

But during that pause, testified Marcus McGee, Reginald Royals Jr. reached in his car, pulled out a gun and started shooting.

The first volley of bullets hit McGee in his back, hip and shoulder. A second series of shots killed his friend, Juan Carlos Ovalle, when a bullet struck him in the head.

The incident happened March 22. McGee testified Monday during Royals' preliminary hearing in General District Court. Judge S. Clark Daugherty ruled that murder, malicious wounding and weapons charges against Royals should be heard by a grand jury this month.

Daugherty denied a motion by Royals' lawyer, Jeffrey Swartz, to reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter. Swartz argued that his client sought to protect himself during a fist fight that was two against one and in which one of his opponents, Ovalle, carried a gun.

Friends and family for both Royals and Ovalle filled several rows in the courtroom.

McGee said he, Ovalle, Alana Lindsay and a fourth person spent part of the evening in a Waterside bar. McGee and Lindsay testified that as they walked to their car in the parking garage to go home, they passed Royals, who was revving the engine of his car. When Ovalle reached his car, McGee said, he took his gun out of the glove box and put it in his pocket.

Ovalle pulled out of his parking space but soon stopped in traffic trying to leave the garage. That's when Royals bumped their car, McGee said. Within moments, Royals bumped Ovalle's car again.

Ovalle and McGee got out of their car, a white Nissan Altima, to inspect the damage. They exchanged phone numbers with Royals, and Lindsay called Royals' phone to make sure the number was valid. McGee took a picture of Royals' license plate.

Lindsay remained in Ovalle's car but said she could see the butt of Ovalle's gun as he talked with Royals. Ovalle did not flash it, she said, nor did he remove it from his pocket.

When Ovalle and McGee returned to the car, Lindsay said, they seemed agitated. They did not believe that Royals had insurance, she said, and decided to approach him again to get the name of his insurance company.

That's when punches were thrown. McGee said he could not remember who swung first. He said Royals landed a punch that made Ovalle stumble back. Royals turned to look at McGee, and the two of them exchanged blows.

Then a stranger ran up and shouted for the men to stop. The shooting started after that.

McGee fled, but Ovalle was hemmed in by cars. Lindsay said once Ovalle fell, Royals ordered her and the other man out of Ovalle's car. Royals held his gun above his waist, Lindsay said, and began pacing.

"I started begging him to get into his car and leave," she said.

Royals did. His lawyer, Swartz, said at a previous hearing that Royals drove straight to police on another floor of the garage and turned himself in.

At the end of Monday's testimony, Swartz argued that the case should go forward on lesser charges of manslaughter and unlawful wounding, saying there was no malice behind Royals' actions.

"He was injured, outnumbered. He's in fear," Swartz said of Royals. "He grabs his gun and it's boom, boom, boom in a matter of seconds."

Prosecutor Amy Cross countered that neither McGee nor Ovalle displayed a gun.

"This was a fight, not an incident where the defendant was in reasonable fear of death, and yet he reacts with deadly force," Cross said.

Michelle Washington, (757) 446-2287, michelle.washington@pilotonline.com