Four people were killed and three injured in two separate shootings Thursday afternoon.
Five people were shot — three fatally — on Fenner Street off Tidewater Drive as police investigated a double shooting about 2 miles away at Wards Corner.
Norfolk police described the Fenner Street incident as a five-person shootout in a unit at Fenner Gardens Apartments in the 7400 block, near where the road dead-ends.
Wails could be heard down Fenner Street as a woman received the news that a loved one died in the shooting. She collapsed into the arms of two family members, who escorted her from the crime scene as she was overcome with grief.
“I feel so bad for her,” said Quida, a neighbor who preferred to only give a first name, as she stood in the parking lot in front of her apartment. “I tell my baby don’t go back there to play. It is not safe.”
Quida went to the store for a few minutes “and when I came back it was a crime scene,” she said while shaking her head.
Another neighbor, Naomi, ventured into her driveway and watched as police strung up crime scene tape, blocking off the backside of Fenner Street.
“It used to not be like this,” she said. “But now, it seems like it is all the time. I don’t even like to go outside anymore.”
A man rushed through the neighborhood, approaching residents to ask if anyone knew who died. As people shook their heads, he hurried by, saying “I need to make sure it is not one of mine.”
The victims in Fenner Street incident had not been identified as of Friday morning.
The call for the shooting came around 4:30 p.m., while officers were investigating the roadway shooting at Wards Corner that left one man dead and another injured.
The shooting at Wards Corner, near the intersection of Granby Street and E. Little Creek Road, happened around 2:55 p.m. Johnathan D. Clark, 19, of Norfolk, was killed and a 17-year-old boy was injured, police said Friday.
Four cars appeared to be at the center of the crime scene, bullet casings strewn around them as indicated by evidence markers littering the roadway.
The vehicles were on E. Little Creek Road. Yellow police tape stretched from parking lot to parking lot as police blocked off a portion of the roadway and collected evidence around the vehicles.
Dozens of shoppers gathered in parking lots lining the Wards Corner crime scene in the hours following the shooting.
One woman said she was on her way to get coffee when she happened on the scene. Katherine, who preferred to only give her first name, said this is the second time in two weeks she has come upon the scene of a shooting in a public place.
“But it feels like this is happening every day. At this point, where do I go? Where can I safely shop? I have to wonder if I am going to be the victim of a stray bullet,” she said, motioning to the casings in the roadway. “The community is so tired of it.”
Police said the two shootings are not related and no suspect information is available at this time.
Staff reporter Gavin Stone contributed to this report.
Caitlyn Burchett, 727-267-6059, caitlyn.burchett@virigniamedia.com
