PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Following a wave of violence over the weekend, Portsmouth’s mayor and vice mayor said fighting crime remains a top priority.
Seven people were shot in five separate shootings between Friday and Monday.
New surveillance video from police shows the moment someone opened fire in the parking lot at Dale Homes: injuring two women and killing 31-year-old Erica Atkins, the niece of prominent anti-gun violence activist, Monica Atkins.
“Something has to be done. And I mean, now,” Monica Atkins said. “This just cannot be the norm for us. It cannot be. It’s just a revolving door – happening over and over and over.”
Two other women also got hurt that night. And elsewhere across the city, four more people were shot in separate shootings over the weekend.
Portsmouth mayor Shannon Glover said city leaders are doing all they can to fight crime, and they need the community’s support.
Glover stressed the importance of people in the community reporting crime. The mayor said: If you see something, say something.
“I’ve been around long enough. I’ve been all over the country. I’ve been to Baltimore, I’ve been to St. Louis, and talked to the mayors there. They’re having similar challenges,” he said. “What we all know: the best option that we have is that the community continues its vigilance, its engagement, and that we’re there as the city and law enforcement to reassure them in the best way that we possible can.”
Glover added, he’s personally reached out to the Atkins family to offer condolences and reassure them.
“It’s hard to predict random acts of violence. No one has a crystal ball,” he said. “I assure you that in the city of Portsmouth, our leadership team under our interim city manager, Ms. Terry; our chief of police, Chief Stephen Jenkins; all of our stakeholders and departments are doing everything that we can do without our power to curb violence, to get in front of violence."
Portsmouth Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke said her priority is continue to work to find out why shootings keep happening.
“I hope to see that we can identify the root cause of this,” she said. “Is it employment? Is it housing? Is it jobs? Is it just a lack of opportunities? Or a lot of times we find out, some of these people don’t even live in our city.”
She added: “It’s not anything that we are disregarding or sweeping under the rug. We need to come together as a council and see what we can do. It’s a community issue. It’s something we all need to come together on and try to wrap our hands around.”
Lucas-Burke said city council members are working with police to install new crime-fighting technology around the city.
“Put in new cameras, license plate readers, shot identifier equipment, just to let us know where those crimes happen,” she said. “We definitely want to get a handle on this.”
Meanwhile, Atkins said city leaders should focus on areas that have seen rising crime rates, like Dale Homes. This past weekend alone, police responded to two separate shootings in that area.
“Dale Homes: They need to tear that place down,” she said. “The only way to end the violence - you have to get the ones off the street who are committing the violence. It’s a revolving door and if they feel like they got away with it one time, they’re going to keep committing the crimes.”
If you know anything about any of these shootings, you’re asked to contact police.