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CHESAPEAKE — Taekwon Demond Rumble had just stepped onto a bus when Tyrek Jones, already onboard, confronted him, prosecutors say.
After 17 seconds, the two Chesapeake men sat down and didn’t speak another word during the ride to the next stop. Jones would later tell police — repeatedly — that he didn’t like Rumble. In an interview with a detective, Jones started to smile and said he felt “very threatened” by Rumble, prosecutors wrote in a summary of their evidence.
Asked what he did about that feeling, Jones replied: “I guess you see.”
He then described how he left the bus, got a gun, returned and shot Rumble, prosecutors said.
Jones, 21, pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing 22-year-old Rumble. He faces up to life plus eight years in prison when he’s sentenced by a judge later this spring.
Rumble was fatally shot April 28 while he was sitting on a Hampton Roads Transit bus at a transfer stop in the 400 block of Liberty Street in South Norfolk. There were six witnesses on the bus at the time of the shooting, including two young children, prosecutors wrote in their stipulation of facts filed in court.
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According to prosecutors, Rumble got on a bus at the Robert Hall stop about 35 minutes before his death. Jones, who was already onboard, immediately approached him, and the two stood face to face and “exchanged words,” a witness told police. The 17-second interaction was captured on bus surveillance video, prosecutors wrote.
The two men sat down and didn’t talk further during the ride to Liberty Street, roughly 4 miles away. But Jones texted a “known associate,” to say that Rumble was on the bus and that Jones’ gun was at “da crib,” prosecutors wrote in their summary.
Once there, Rumble got on a second bus. According to prosecutors, surveillance footage from cameras along Jones’ path shows him running toward his house blocks away and then walking back to the bus stop, adjusting something in the right pocket of his hoodie.
Surveillance footage then shows Jones enter the bus and shoot at Rumble, prosecutors wrote. Rumble was struck three times, one of the hits fatal.
Rumble’s family told police he was having an issue with two people, one of whom was named Tyrek.
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The day after the shooting, Jones told a detective he shot Rumble and identified himself in surveillance photos, according to prosecutors. He claimed Rumble had “disrespected him” by asking him if he was “straight,” which Jones explained meant, “are you good,” prosecutors wrote.
He acknowledged seeing little children on the bus but said: “I got him … I knew what I was aiming at,” prosecutors said.
At Jones’ home, police recovered clothing, shoes and a backpack that matched those seen in surveillance footage, along with bullets and a gun magazine. From the city jail, Jones admitted in a phone call with his mother that he was the one who pulled the trigger, prosecutors wrote.
Jones pleaded guilty in Circuit Court to first-degree murder, using a firearm and possessing one as a convicted felon. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to indict Jones on additional charges if he complies with the terms. Prosecutors previously dropped a cocaine possession charge Jones had been facing.
Jones cannot have contact with the victim’s family or associate with gang members, among other terms in the agreement.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced in May.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com