Five arrested for murder of cab driver

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Newport News Police have arrested the final two suspects wanted for the murder of cab driver, Mohammed Laktami.

Police spokesperson Holly McPherson told WAVY.com investigators tracked down and arrested 23-year-old Antonio Lamar Williams and 20-year-old Christopher Deangelo Holloman, at the Americans Best Value Inn on Effingham Street in Portsmouth on December 1st.

Williams and Holloman are charged with Murder, Robbery, Conspiracy and two counts of Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony.

Three others are also charged with the crime.

Police arrested Trevor Rashad Futrell of the 700 block of 17th Street on Saturday. Shannon Denise Drewry, 23, of the 700 block of 22nd Street in Newport News, was arrested at her home on Sunday around 11 a.m. Sunday evening, police arrested a 17-year-old Newport News male at his house. All three were charged with Murder, Robbery, Conspiracy, and two counts of Possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Police said the suspects shot and killed Mohammed Laktami on November 22, 2008 while he was driving his cab in the 2000 block of Marshall Avenue.

Detectives say the crime was planned. The five suspects apparently planned to rob a Chinese restaurant delivery driver. But when they called the restaurant it was closed. So, police say they changed their plan a decided to rob a taxi driver. According to police, two of the men robbed Laktami. Then, after the robbery and murder, all five suspects split the cash.

Laktami was a legal resident from Morocco who had worked in Virginia to support his family in Africa. He had been in the United States for about two years and had worked as a cab driver in Newport News for about two months.