Inset left to right: Re'Al Butler and J.C. Butler (Hampton Police Division). Background: The residential area near a school where Martez Johnson Corey was shot and killed in Hampton, Virginia (Google Maps).
A pair of siblings in Virginia is behind bars over the ambush-style shooting and killing of another man, police in the Old Dominion say.
Re'Al Butler, 24, and J.C. Butler, 25, stand accused of one count each of murder in the first degree, conspiracy to commit murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, shooting into an occupied dwelling, and shooting a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, according to the Hampton Police Division. The elder Butler is also charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The underlying incident occurred in June 2024 on Old Buckroe Road in Hampton — a large city located immediately south of Newport News — and resulted in the death of 26-year-old Martez Johnson Corey.
On June 1, 2024, around 7:30 p.m., officers responded and found the victim suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds. While Hampton Fire and Rescue Division personnel attempted lifesaving efforts, Corey was pronounced dead at the scene of the crime.
The fatal shooting happened not far from Robert R. Moton Elementary School, according to Hampton-based ABC affiliate WVEC.
The investigation went on for months with little public progress. In March 2025, the Butler brothers were arrested and charged. The pair was formally indicted in November of last year, Hampton General District Court records show. So far, law enforcement are keeping mum about what tied the defendants to the attack.
As the defendants' trial approaches, details about the shooting are still scarce — a point of consternation for the victim's family.
"There has been no reason for them to say why they shot him," William Corey, the victim's father, told Portsmouth-based NBC affiliate WAVY earlier this week. "They're still in a place of being in denial, saying it wasn't them."
The grieving father said there was no indication his son even knew the alleged assailants before the fatal shooting.
"I don't know any relationship they had," he added. "Nothing at all."
On the night in question, the victim was shot while sitting outside at a residence. Several bullet holes are still visible in the facade.
"He was sitting on a friend of the family's front porch," William Corey continued. "It was a little hole. Martez couldn't get out, and as he tried to get up, they just shot him and left him there to die, and by the time the police and paramedics got there, he was dead…From what I heard, he was shot probably eight to 10 times."
The state of his son's body forced a closed-casket funeral, the victim's father added.
"I had to take his ashes and sprinkle them on his mother's grave," William Corey went on. "So whenever I go past that area, I always just go out to say hi to him and his mom."
The Butler brothers are being detained in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail. Their trial is slated to begin on March 24.
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