Commonwealth v. Christopher Shawn Brady; Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison in Shooting Deaths of His Parents

Virginia Beach, Va. – Colin D. Stolle, Commonwealth's Attorney for the city of Virginia Beach, announced that Christopher Shawn Brady, age 47, formerly of the 400 block of Kellam Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia, was sentenced today for two (2) counts each of Second Degree Murder and Use of a Firearm. Circuit Court Judge James C. Lewis sentenced Brady to 88 years in prison with 58 years suspended, leaving thirty (30) years to serve. This was the maximum sentence allowed under the plea agreement. This was above the high-end of the Virginia State Sentencing Guidelines, which recommended a sentence between fifteen (15) years and eleven (11) months and 26 years and seven (7) months.

Brady pled guilty on October 4, 2021. If this matter had gone to trial, the Commonwealth's evidence would have proven that on July 12, 2019, Christopher Shawn Brady killed his parents, Roy and Sheila Brady, at their home on Kellam Road in Virginia Beach. Brady and his teenage daughter had lived with his parents for years. Brady's daughter was home at the time of the shootings and heard loud voices then gunshots. She attempted to go downstairs but her father told her to go back upstairs. He then came upstairs carrying a gun and told her they needed to leave. As the daughter left the house, she saw her grandmother laying in blood on the floor.

Brady drove his daughter to the Richmond area, where they stayed in a motel for several days. He decided to return to Virginia Beach and turn himself in. He told detectives that he shot his parents but didn't know why he had done it. Virginia Beach police went to the home on July 16, 2019 and found Brady's father with a single gunshot wound to his head, still seated in his recliner. Brady's mother had been shot multiple times in the head, torso and arm, and she lay in a pool of dried blood on the floor.

During an interview with police, Brady's daughter said they had briefly returned to the home on the night of the murders. She stayed in the car while Brady went in to pick up shell casings and make it appear to have been a robbery. She also reported that Brady disassembled the gun he used to kill his parents and threw the barrel into the water as they crossed the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. The remaining parts of the gun were found in his truck, and it was determined that the shell casings recovered from the scene were fired from that gun.

Brady has prior convictions for Grand Larceny, Receiving Stolen Property, Resisting Arrest, Disturbing the Peace, and Petit Larceny.

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Sara R. Chandler and Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Katharine D. Aicher prosecuted this case. Please contact Macie Allen if additional information is desired.