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).
In a troubling case from Virginia, two siblings have been jailed following their alleged involvement in a fatal ambush-style shooting. The incident, which has left the community in shock, ended with the tragic death of a young man.
Re’Al Butler, aged 24, and his brother J.C. Butler, 25, face several grave charges, including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and the unlawful use of a firearm during a felony. They are also accused of shooting into an occupied dwelling and firing a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school. Notably, J.C. Butler carries an additional charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, as per the Hampton Police Division.
The shooting took place in June 2024 on Old Buckroe Road in Hampton, a bustling city located just south of Newport News. The victim, Martez Johnson Corey, was 26 years old at the time of his death.
On the evening of June 1, 2024, at approximately 7:30 p.m., police officers arrived at the scene to discover Corey gravely injured by gunshots. Despite the efforts of the Hampton Fire and Rescue Division to save his life, Corey was declared dead at the location, a grim reminder of the violence that had unfolded.
The proximity of the crime scene to Robert R. Moton Elementary School has added to the community’s concern, highlighting the potential risks posed by such incidents in public areas, according to local news outlet WVEC.
For months, the investigation appeared stalled, with little information reaching the public. However, in March 2025, a breakthrough led to the arrest of the Butler brothers. They were formally indicted by November of the same year, as indicated by records from the Hampton General District Court. Despite the charges, authorities have remained tight-lipped about the evidence linking the brothers to the crime.
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.
