A Charlottesville man will spend almost four years in prison after a bizarre confrontation last fall in which he allegedly opened fire on a tow-truck driver removing a car from an Albemarle County apartment complex, then showed up at the towing company's lot to try to get the vehicle back. Marquice Anthony Waller, 31, entered an Alford plea, meaning he did not admit guilt but acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.
Shots Fired Over a Repossessed Car
According to CBS 19 News, Waller was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each of two attempted malicious-wounding charges and two years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, with 18 years and one month of that total suspended. Prosecutors dropped three other charges as part of the case. The incident dates back to around 1:45 a.m. on Sept. 9, 2025, when Albemarle County police were dispatched to the 2400 block of Peyton Drive after a report of shots fired, according to wric.com.
A tow-truck driver told police a male suspect shot at them while they were in the process of towing a vehicle from an apartment complex, the station reported. Officers recovered two shell casings at the scene, and no injuries or property damage were reported. Rattled but apparently unharmed, the driver then drove to the towing company's lot in Charlottesville, where officers from both Albemarle County and Charlottesville met up with them.
Arrests at the Towing Lot
Police said two people arrived at that lot to retrieve the towed vehicle: 27-year-old Octavia Williams, identified as the car's registered owner, and Waller, identified as the suspected shooter. Both were taken into custody on the spot. Officers reportedly found a firearm inside Williams' purse that had been reported stolen out of Albemarle County in July, according to the same wric.com report.
Waller was charged in Albemarle with two counts of attempted malicious wounding, two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Charlottesville police separately charged both Williams and Waller with one count each of possession of stolen property, and the pair were held at Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail following their arrests.
Williams' Case Took a Different Path
Williams, initially charged with possession of stolen property over the firearm found in her purse, was later charged with carrying a concealed firearm. She pleaded guilty to that charge in November and served no extra time, per the seed facts in this case.
A Plea Deal That Judges Weren't Quick to Accept
Getting to Waller's sentence wasn't straightforward. As dailyprogress.com reported, a proposed five-year plea agreement was rejected by one judge as too lenient, and two days later the same deal landed before a second judge, Cheryl Higgins. Rather than rule on it immediately, Higgins said she wanted more information before deciding, according to the outlet's coverage of the hearing. The case ultimately resulted in Waller's current sentence, with the bulk of his time suspended and almost four years of active incarceration ahead of him.
