Va. Beach shootings leave two dead
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. » Adrian Montgomery was working security for an Oceanfront hotel Friday night when he heard three gunshots and watched a man he believes was the shooter run from near the Boardwalk to the middle of Atlantic Avenue.
The man stopped and looked at him, Montgomery said. The two men stared at each other down, each with a choice to make: Should I shoot him?
Neither did. Instead, a Virginia Beach police officer came running from the Boardwalk, chasing the shooter south on Atlantic, toward 19th Street. As Montgomery looked away from the supposed shooter and saw the officer, he heard another set of gunshots, this time from the north, around Atlantic and 21st.
Simultaneously, they watched a woman come out of a side door of the Nightmare Mansion, a haunted house attraction on the northwest corner of 20th Street and Atlantic Avenue. She screamed, got shot by someone else, and dropped to the ground, Montgomery said.
Meanwhile, the first shooter fled from the offi
cer, rounded the corner at Atlantic and 19th Street to head west toward Pacific Avenue, Montgomery and fellow security guard John Williams, 33, said.
Then, gunshots. Montgomery and Williams said they didn’t see what happened, but believe that’s when an officer shot and killed the man they’d just seen.
It was part of a horrific series of events that turned the Oceanfront from a warm spring night of revelry into bedlam. When everything settled, two people were dead and at least eight others were shot in late-night shootings.
One man was shot and killed by police, and a woman was shot and killed. Police say the shooting of the woman was un
related to the others.
Police identified the man killed by police as 25year-old Donovon W. Lynch of Virginia Beach and the woman who was killed as Deshayla E. Harris, 29, of Norfolk.
The authorities have charged three people in connection with the shootings: Ahmon Jahree Adams, 18, of Chesapeake; Nyquez Tyyon Baker, 18, of Virginia Beach; and Devon Maurice Dorsey Jr., 20, also of Virginia Beach. They have each been charged with seven counts of felony assault, illegally using a gun and recklessly handling a gun and are locked up at the Virginia Beach city jail.
Police believe all three were involved in the first shooting in the 2000 block of Atlantic Avenue.
Saturday morning, a trail of dried blood was still on the side door at Nightmare Mansion where the woman was shot, as well as pools of dried blood on the ground below.
Nearby, the back window of a Jeep SUV parked on 20th Street was blasted out and a bullet hole was in the driver’s side back door, with a police evidence sticker just above it.
Montgomery said his 18-year-old nephew was one of the gunshot victims in the original firefight. As of 11: 30 a.m. Saturday, he was scheduled for surgery and it’s still unclear whether he’ll survive, his uncle said.
The night started as an unseasonably warm one. Montgomery said Atlantic Avenue was packed with locals and tourists enjoying the nice weather. So many people were out and about, “you couldn’t see the sidewalk,” he said.
But that all changed around 11:20 p.m. when police responded to the first shooting at Atlantic Avenue and 20th Street, police reported. Investigators believe a group of people got into an argument that escalated into a physical fight.
During the fight, several people pulled guns and started shooting at each other, police said. Multiple people were hit during the firefight. Officers swarmed to the scene and police started trying to figure out what happened.
Several minutes later, officers heard more gunshots coming from a couple blocks away, near the 1900 block of Pacific Avenue. A woman was shot and died at the scene. Investigators don’t believe the woman’s homicide was connected to the first shooting.
During the first two incidents, a Virginia Beach police officer in the area came across a man who was armed. The officer shot and killed him. It’s unclear whether that man was the same armed man that Montgomery encountered.
During the shootings, a Virginia Beach police officer also was hit by a vehicle. The officer was taken to a hospital, treated and released. Six people went to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital by ambulance, one to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and another — who has since been discharged — went to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, said Dale Gauding, a spokesman for Sentara, in a press release. Two others walked into Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital on their own. It’s unclear whether they had been shot.
Two people also were treated at the scene but refused to be transported. It’s unclear if they are the two who walked into the hospital.
Police said in a press release that the officer who shot the man is now on administrative assignment pending the outcome of the investigation. The officer is assigned to the Special Operations Division. The officer has been with the department for five years.
Crews were on scene shortly after the initial dispatch call because a paramedic was in the area, he said.
Within minutes of the first shooting, gunfire broke out again, said Bruce Nedelka, a spokesperson for EMS.
“There was still gunfire going on when EMS arrived,” Nedelka said. “Our crews were there in the hot zone as you call it.
“It was a dangerous unfolding situation,” he added.