NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Witnesses of the March 2022 Granby Street shooting that left three people dead and two injured refused to appear in court once again.

Earlier this month, the case against Antoine Legrande Jr. was nolle prossed after two of the three witnesses failed to appear in court.

Legrande was previously charged with three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of malicious wounding, and other firearm charges following the March 19 shooting outside of Chichos Backstage. 24-year-old Marquel Andrews, 25-year-old Devon “Malik” Harris and 25-year-old Sierra Jenkins, a Virginian-Pilot reporter, died following the shooting. 

Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said that one of the witnesses asked to appear said he would be cooperative.

“One of the witnesses that was needed had indicated he would be cooperative and that he was going to show up,” Fatehi explained.

He did not show up, and was never given the subpoena to show up which Fatehi says is a common practice to keep witness names out of court documents open to the public, 

“It is routine for us to talk to folks, and to have them show up without a subpoena. It’s what we do to try and protect witnesses and protect victims,” Fatehi explained.

Since the witnesses didn’t show up either on September 6th or November 1, Fatehi said he had to nolle prosequi the second-degree murder charges against Antoine Legrande Jr because he had no choice,  

The judge had issued a show cause to the witnesses to come to court Wednesday to explain why they failed to show up on November first, and they were no-shows again because they could not be found to be given the subpoenas.  

“Law enforcement agencies tried to serve those papers more than once and wasn’t able to do that,” explained Fatehi.

It has been expressed the witnesses may not want to be found.  

The grandmother of 24-year-old Marquel Andrews told 10 On Your Side that she is frustrated that the witnesses can’t be found and that the case is in limbo due to their no-shows.

“I just keep feeling the loss of my grandson and there is no one here to answer what happened to him,” she explained. “The witnesses that they keep subpoenaing, and they are not showing up. I need the courts to do something about that…to find them…to deliver the subpoenas… because I need someone to answer for what happened to my grandson.” 

Andrews’s grandmother is simply seeking justice, in a system that has trouble finding people who may not want to be found, to force them into court. 

“I just want justice for my grandson. I want someone to answer what happened to him. I don’t want anyone to walk away free on a dismissed case for killing all those people,” she said.

Andrews’ grandmother also wants answers from that night so she and her family can start to understand why this shooting happened.

“Why did it happen to him? I need the witnesses to come forward that have seen anything and speak up because it could be your family,” she explained.

Fatehi assures that he and his team are working to get these witnesses into court, however, he says there is only so much that he can do.

“I can’t conjure up witnesses to come to court. All I can do is ask for the cooperation so we can get justice,” explained Fatehi.

Andrews’ grandmother continues to urge to courts to try and get witnesses to appear so she can finally have some answers.

“The witnesses that they keep subpoenaing and not showing up, I need the courts to do something about that because I need someone to answer,” she said.

The court issued new subpoenas Wednesday that require the witnesses to show up in court on January 17. However, the big question still remains: Will they show up?