NORFOLK, Va. — Two of the victims who survived a “mass shooting” in Norfolk's Young Terrace neighborhood in November 2021 testified in court Wednesday, identifying Ziontay Palmer as the shooter.
Palmer is accused of shooting his pregnant girlfriend, Angel Legrande, before turning his gun on four other women -- killing Nicole Lovewine, Detra Brown, and Sara Costine.
Legrande and Chezelle Dixon both testified that they were also shot that day but survived.
It happened in Norfolk’s Young Terrace neighborhood on November 3, 2021. At the time, Norfolk’s then police chief labeled the case a mass shooting.
Through tears, Legrande told the court that while pregnant with her daughter, Palmer pulled up in his cousin’s car at her home and shot her.
Legrande said she fell to the ground and saw her mother, Lovewine, fall to the ground, also.
She showed the jury a scar on her shoulder caused by a bullet wound.
Police said Palmer and Legrande dated at the time of the shooting.
In a video call -- which prosecutors say happened a month after the shooting -- Palmer tells Legrande: “I know I was wrong. I asked God for forgiveness. I know it wasn’t right. Nothing was right about it.”
Legrande said she spoke to Palmer again because she “wanted answers.”
Dixon also cried as she told the court, November 3 is a night she’ll “never forget.” She said she heard gunshots and saw her neighbor, Costine, kneeling on the ground trying to stop the bleeding on another woman. Dixon testified that Palmer approached Costin and shot her in the head. As Costin fell back, she said Palmer shot her again in the chest.
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Dixon said as she hid behind a garbage can, Palmer advanced on her and shot her. She told the court: “I was bleeding on the ground. I thought I was going to die.”
Costine’s 15-year-old son also testified Wednesday. He told the court as he played on his trampoline outside, he heard gunshots. He said he later saw his mother injured on the ground outside.
During Wednesday's trial, the jury also saw graphic photos of the autopsies and heard graphic details about how the women died.
Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Wendy Gunther testified she conducted the autopsies on all three victims. She said one victim died from gunshots to the head, another woman died of gunshot wounds to her head and body -- including her spine, and the the victim got hit in her lung and spine.