A 42-year-old man was sentenced on Friday in Norfolk to 38 years for second-degree murder in the shooting of a beloved convenience store owner on Lindenwood Avenue.
Bruce Hisle was found to have fired the 10 mm handgun used to kill 84-year-old James Carter outside the Triple C Convenience Store in the evening of Dec 20, 2023.
Witnesses who testified at Hisle’s trial said that he was with his brother, Dennis Hisle, and the mother of his children, Tamika Credle, selling liquor outside the trunk of a white van across the street from the store.
An argument ensued between Hisle, his brother and two men. Shontel Cradle, one of the two men, testified at trial that he was leading his friend Dommion McLean back toward his car parked in front of Carter’s convenience store when 11 shots rang out.
One severely injured Cradle. Another two hit Carter in his head and torso, killing him. He was peeking outside to ask the men to move their argument away from the store.
The Hisle brothers climbed into the white van as Credle drove away. A witness later shared the van’s license plate with the police, who used Flock cameras to track the car and arrest the group.
Carter’s son and granddaughter, while addressing the court at Bruce’s sentencing, said they loved their father, as did the community. Hisle’s mother said in court that she loved Carter and was sorry for what happened to him.
Neighbors gathered outside Triple C Convenience in the days after he died, paying tribute to his role in the community with flowers, candles and balloons that crowded the entrance to the shop.
In Friday’s sentencing, Bruce Hisle said he was sorry for what happened to Carter, but he maintained that he was not the one who shot him.
Police originally charged Bruce’s brother, Dennis, with fatally shooting Carter and injuring Cradle.
Witness accounts at Hisle’s trial conflicted on which brother fired the gun. Investigators had found that Dennis had stolen the handgun used in the shooting from a friend in September 2023, who reported it missing.
But two hours of calls placed from jail by Credle, the mother of Bruce’s children, to family were key pieces of evidence presented by the prosecution at trial.
In the calls, Credle asserted that it was Bruce who fired the gun.
Dennis was sentenced to four years in prison on charges relating to possessing a firearm. Credle was found guilty by a jury of being an accessory after the fact of a felony, and sentenced to 12 months in jail.
Carter was an “unintended and tragic murder victim,” said Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “The introduction of gunfire into any argument, no matter how serious, will inevitably lead to tragic results.”
“We will miss you Mr. Carter,” and “Live always Mr. Carter,” read messages written in black on the rolling steel door securing the front of the store shut. Neighbors said the store has been closed for months.
“Thank you for giving to me when no one else did.”
Nori Leybengrub, , (757) 349-3523, [email protected]