Shooting Victim Wore Ski Mask During Botched Drug Robbery: Police

SPOTSYLVANIA, VA — The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office arrested two men in connection with a Dec. 4 shooting that left a 19-year-old dead in an area off Salem Church Road near several schools southwest of Fredericksburg. Foster Leon Brooks, 22, of Fredericksburg, is charged with six counts of shooting from a vehicle as to endanger persons and Jevante Lemroy Ellis, 22, of Spotsylvania, is charged with robbery. Neither of the men arrested Dec. 5 is charged with murder.

Spotsylvania deputies arrived on the scene in the area of 11600 Summerfield Court at 2:49 p.m. Wednesday to find the 19-year-old, Noah Waters, with a gunshot wound. Waters, from Spotsylvania, was transported to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.

"Through investigation and interviews to this point, Spotsylvania Detectives have determined that Jevante Ellis and the deceased, Noah Waters, made arrangements to purchase narcotics from an associate," the sheriff's office said Dec. 5 in a statement. "That associate arranged for the purchase of those narcotics from Brooks and met him near the Summerfield Court area to coordinate the transaction."

According to the sheriff's office, though, Waters and Ellis later showed up together and tried to rob Brooks at gunpoint. The sheriff's office said Waters was wearing a ski mask that was later recovered by investigators. Brooks responded, according to the sheriff's office, by firing his own weapon at Waters. He fired several rounds and one hit Waters, resulting in a fatal injury, the sheriff's office said.

A car carrying Brooks and at least one other person showed up at a nearby business shortly after the shooting with multiple bullet holes in the windshield, the Free Lance-Star reported Dec. 5. Someone in the car screamed for someone at the business to call 911, which they did, according to the report.

Five schools were put on lockdown Wednesday afternoon due to their proximity to the shooting. The lockdown was lifted after about an hour. The incident is still under investigation, according to the sheriff's office. Additional charges, the sheriff's office said, may be forthcoming as the investigation progresses.