PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Portsmouth Police Department (PPD) is investigating another shooting in a neighborhood they call a “challenge.”
Someone shot and killed 28-year-old Daniel Rodgers on Dale Drive Friday night.
Dale Homes has a recent history of violence and, according to police records, the number of calls for service keeps increasing.
While the shooting Friday night is the first homicide of this year in the neighborhood, shootings there in 2023 left three people dead and five others hurt.
Fallon Frieson said she grew up in Dale Homes and raised her children there.
"I’d say in the last 25 years, a lot of things have changed," she said.
She said the violence has gotten so bad that parents are scared to let their children out of the house.
"All the kids that are out here, they’re not really able to enjoy because they’re scared or their parents are scared that something might happen to them when they’re outside," said Frieson.
Public records show between 2022 and 2023, Portsmouth police responded to 155 calls for service to Dale Drive. Of those, 31 were for various calls of assault, a dozen for shots fired.
That number went up to 548 calls for service between March 2023 and March 2024.
From 2019 to 2023, shootings injured or killed 28 people on Dale Drive.
Shortly after 11 p.m. on Friday, officers were nearby responding to a domestic call when they heard gunshots and rushed to the 200 block of Dale Drive. When officers arrived, they found Rodgers with a fatal gunshot wound, police said.
Portsmouth police say this investigation remains ongoing and they are searching for suspects.
His murder marks the 12th homicide in the city so far this year.
"Dale Homes has always been a challenge for us, and it continues to be a challenge," said Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins during a press conference Saturday.
Frieson said she wants to see a bigger police presence in the neighborhood.
Chief Jenkins said cameras and security provided by the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority have helped as the department juggles a staffing shortage.
"We try to put as much resources in that community as we can," he said. "Not only leaning on our state partners but our federal partners for additional resources."
In a statement from the police department, they said the safety of Dale Homes residents is a department priority, and "we will continue to work with community partners like PRHA and their security team to show a presence in that area and increase patrols. However, combatting violence in Dale Homes, in the city in general, requires a multipronged approach led by the Portsmouth Police Department, though its success relies heavily on the cooperation of residents."
They went on to say that "strategies and tactics may change in the fight against crime, but the PPD's commitment to protecting, serving, and increasing resident safety at Dale Homes remains steadfast."
Portsmouth City Councilman De'Andre Barnes grew up in Dale Homes and knows its violent history.
"It’s always been a hot crime issue," Barnes said.
He said it’s gotten worse over the years as city crews tore down other neighborhoods.
"Once we tore down some of our bad neighborhoods, like Swanson Homes, some of the other neighborhoods, everybody just came to one area so now you’re probably getting more and more calls than you’ve ever gotten before in this neighborhood and that’s because they’re all staying here, but you can fix their conditions."
Barnes said he wants to see the city tackle the root cause of violence through more jobs, after-school programs and more ways to get young people involved and off the streets.
"We gotta put things in place to make sure the circumstances are better. I always say when a crime happens today, that problem didn’t start today, that problem started when they were able to choose that lifestyle," he said. "We need to make sure that we're not building carwashes and storages all the time. We need real jobs so that people can make real money, living wage jobs so they can take care of their families, so they don't feel they have to go to the streets."
Chief Jenkins said they’re doing what they can to come up with viable solutions, but he also says some of the responsibility has to fall on the people who live there.
"We know that folks are afraid of retaliation and intimidation, however, if you don’t come forward, you allow that stuff to fester in your community," he said. "It is paramount that we get individuals like this off the street. They do not deserve to walk these city streets at all."
Barnes echoed that sentiment.
"We've gotta put something on the neighborhood. They've got to tell on these people. They have to tell on these people because they're messing up their neighborhood, making it unsafe for their neighborhood, for their kids and the people out here. So they have to tell. They have to speak up and tell what's going on in the neighborhood and you can do that anonymously."