Pharrell: Man shot by police his cousin
Singer calls for transparency in Oceanfront case
Pharrell Williams identified the man shot and killed by Virginia Beach police Friday night at the Oceanfront as his cousin.
“The loss of these lives is a tragedy beyond measure. My cousin Donovon was killed during the shootings. He was a bright light and someone who always showed up for others,” Williams wrote in a social media post shared on his verified Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts Monday night.
Donovon Lynch was fatally shot by a Virginia Beach police officer late Friday night during what Police Chief Paul Neudigate later called a chaotic night of violence at the Oceanfront. Shootings that night left two people dead and at least eight others injured.
It’s unclear what happened Friday night that led to the officer pulling the trigger.
Police initially called the 25-year-old Virginia Beach man an “armed citizen.”
At a news conference the next day, Neudigate said a gun was found “in the vicinity of where this incident occurred,” but there was no evidence the gun belonged to Lynch.
The officer who shot Lynch has not been publicly identified. Police said the officer’s body camera was not on at the time of the shooting.
“It is critical my family and the other victims’ families get the transparency, honesty and justice they deserve,” Williams wrote.
His post came about half an hour after police released an update Monday night saying Lynch “was brandishing a handgun at the time of the shooting,” according to their interviews with the officer who shot Lynch and an officer who witnessed the shooting. The police update said an independent witness confirmed in an interview that Lynch had been in possession of a gun earlier that night.
The Virginia Beach NAACP has also released a statement calling for a full investigation into the shooting.
“Virginia Beach is the epitome of hope and tenacity and, as a community, we will get through this and come out even stronger,” Williams wrote.