NORFOLK, Va. — Tuesday marks two years since the shooting in Downtown Norfolk that left three people dead and two others hurt.
The shooting outside Chicho’s Pizza Backstage sparked safety concerns and changes in the downtown corridor. To this day, no one has been convicted in the killings.
“Two years later, I’m still grieving," Maurice Jenkins told 13News Now. "It’s just something that you don’t get over.”
Jenkins is the father of Virginian-Pilot reporter Sierra Jenkins who was killed in the shooting along with Malik Harris and Marquel Andrews.
“She left this area to go to school and, you know, she wanted to come back to someone that could have an impact on her hometown," Jenkins said.
In November of 2022, prosecutors withdrew charges against a man accused of pulling the trigger after witnesses failed to show up and testify. However, Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said this case isn't over for him.
“My prosecutors and I absolutely want to take this case to trial," Fatehi said. "But without evidence and without witnesses, we’re in a holding pattern until something breaks.”
Fatehi said the case had "problems from the beginning."
"I’m not in the position to go through all of them, but we were prepared to fight through those problems so long as we had witnesses to come to court. Witnesses were unwilling to come to court, and who knows how many people failed to come forward who could’ve helped us with the case," Fatehi said.
While it won’t bring his daughter back, Jenkins said a conviction in this case would not only be a win for his family but the whole community.
“You have someone that’s capable of doing something like this and has done something like this that’s still walking the streets," Jenkins said. "So, when will they do it again?”
While prosecutors set aside charges in the case, Fatehi said they could be refilled in the future.
The shooting outside Chicho's was the first of several in Downtown Norfolk in a matter of months, including a shooting inside MacArthur Center Mall weeks later and a quadruple shooting outside of Legacy Restaurant and Lounge in the summer of 2022.
In response to the violence, the city began making security changes along Granby Street, such as new surveillance cameras and extra police patrols on the weekend.
Several downtown restaurants also had their conditional use permits (CUPs) revoked. Vice President of the Downtown Norfolk Civic League Preston Carraway said the changes have led to a big improvement.
"That's resulted in some of the bad actors having their CUPs revoked, and they've been shut down because of that. The rules that have existed are being enforced," Carraway said.
Legacy Restaurant and Lounge, California Burrito and Scotty Quixx were just a few of the restaurants to have their permits revoked.