NORFOLK, Va. — Four people were shot early Friday morning outside the Legacy Restaurant and Lounge on East Plume Street in Norfolk.
Scenes like this are becoming all too common in the downtown area, where at least 15 people have been shot this year.
The violent streak began in February when someone shot a Dominion Energy lineman working on Monticello Avenue.
That same week, Norfolk Police shot a man on Granby Street who allegedly fired a gun into a nearby restaurant.
In March, a spilled drink ended with five shot, three dead, outside a Granby Street restaurant.
In April, a triple shooting at MacArthur Center killed a man and injured two women.
Later that month, a man was shot in broad daylight just outside the mall.
In May, a man showed up to the hospital with a gunshot wound. Investigators believe he was shot in the Neon District.
Around that time, downtown business owners spoke out about the violence in an exclusive “13News Now Investigates” survey.
Ninety percent of those business owners said an enhanced police presence would help curb crime.
Seventy percent agreed outdoor surveillance cameras would help.
But one business owner wrote: “Cameras don’t stop people from committing crime when they are aware that the police force is understaffed.”
The police department shifted resources in the spring to have more officers patrolling downtown on weekends. But NPD is still down some 200 officers, and under the leadership of an interim police chief.
Friday’s violence is yet another reminder that the incoming chief will immediately face filling vacancies and fixing crime.