PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A woman who survived a triple shooting in Portsmouth told detectives she had to play dead to avoid being killed by a gunman.
That's according to newly filed court documents in Portsmouth.
The paperwork says the 61-year-old victim had to communicate with police by writing things down on a whiteboard after medics wired her jaw shut because of her injuries. Police say a gunman shot her in the neck and shoulder and the bullet traveled to her jaw.
The triple shooting happened on February 5 around 3:30 in the morning on Nashville Avenue. That's in Portsmouth’s Prentis Park neighborhood.
Police identified the other victims as 51-year-old twin brothers, Calvin and Alvin Joyner. They died at the scene.
The surviving woman told detectives she was with the Joyner brothers in Alvin’s Dodge Durango SUV when they picked up Joseph Cross and Shamoine Briggs.
Court documents said Cross pulled out a gun and demanded money from everyone.
The woman said she gave Cross $22 before he allegedly shot the three of them. She said Cross and Briggs dragged her out of the car and she played dead so Cross wouldn’t shoot again.
Police arrested Briggs and Cross four days later.
According to court documents, Briggs confessed that she checked the victim’s pockets for crack cocaine after the shooting. She and Cross, her boyfriend, then left in Alvin Joyner’s car.
Cross reportedly confessed to police he later set Joyner's SUV on fire because he wanted to get rid of it.
Police say officers found the SUV after the shooting, fully engulfed in flames, less than a mile away from the crime scene and down the street from Briggs' apartment.
Police say officers also found guns and suspected heroin in Briggs’ apartment.
Documents say Cross told police, he shot Alvin Joyner first and then shot Calvin after he lunged at him. He then shot the 61-year-old woman because he was afraid she would tell someone what happened.
Both Cross and Briggs are facing first-degree murder and malicious wounding charges, as well as robbery, carjacking, and arson charges.