4 injured in shooting at Virginia Beach bar
2 officers fired their guns while responding, police say
VIRGINIA BEACH — Four people were injured and two Virginia Beach police officers are on temporary administrative assignment following an overnight shooting outside a bar.
Officers were responding to a shooting in front of West Beach Tavern when they shot at an armed individual, who fled and hasn’t been located, according to police.
Altogether, four people were injured and sustained injuries not considered life-threatening. They included a 17-year-old girl from Newport News who was shot in her lower leg and a 21-year-old Newport News man whose injuries are being investigated as “potentially self-inflicted,” according to a release.
Two other victims, a 37-year-old Chesapeake man and a 27-year-old Norfolk man, took themselves to a hospital.
Police initially tweeted about the shooting shortly after 2:30 a.m. They did not immediately respond to requests for additional information before releasing more details about 12 hours after the initial tweet.
The release said the shootings started shortly after midnight in the 5000 block of Cleveland Street, off Euclid Road. Virginia Beach officers in the Third Precinct Crime Suppression Squad were surveilling West Beach Tavern due to recent incidents involving disorder and gun violence.
The officers saw multiple people near the front of the business in an argument, which escalated when several took out guns and started shooting, police said.
Two officers exited their car to intervene, and both shot at one of the armed individuals, police said. The person fled and had not been found as of 3 p.m. Saturday.
“At this current time, there is no indication this individual was struck by any of the rounds fired by VBPD officers,” the release said.
The incident is being investigated by the department’s homicide unit. It will turn its findings over to the Virginia Beach Office of the Commonwealth Attorney, which also responded to the scene and will conduct an independent investigation into the police shootings.
When both criminal investigations are complete, the Virginia Beach Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct an administrative investigation.