NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – A Newport News man was convicted by a federal jury Friday on charges of brandishing a firearm while robbing a gas station convenience store in Henrico County.

According to court records and trial evidence, Chaikim Reynolds, 21, went into the convenience store Jan. 17, 2019 to rob it, and his co-conspirator, Darrell Pittman, 23, of Hampton, was armed with a semi-automatic handgun and pointed it at the clerk while Reynolds removed money from the cash register.

The Hampton Police Department identified Reynolds, and was arrested less than a week later while fleeing police with Pittman as Reynolds crashed the vehicle he was driving into another vehicle. The crash killed that car’s passenger and police found a loaded firearm that was later identified as the one used in the robbery.

Reynolds pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and evading and eluding police in January 2020 in Newport News Circuit Court in connection to the death of the passenger in the car, Elizabeth May Verley.

Pittman had previously pleaded guilty for his role in the conspiracy.

Reynolds was convicted of interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, and faces up to 20 years in prison on the former, with a minimum penalty of seven years’ and a maximum term of life incarceration to be served consecutively on the latter when he is scheduled to be sentenced April 25, 2023.