PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Days after someone shot and killed a 17-year-old boy on Cedar Lane, Portsmouth police officers are back in the community for a reset walk.
It’s a door-to-door effort. Officers are reaching out to neighbors to offer reassurance and collect information.
Portsmouth resident, Joseph Ricks said he's fed up with crime.
“Every night somebody’s being shot. Every night somebody’s being killed in every city," Ricks said. “Nobody seems to have an answer. The preachers want to pray about it, and everybody else wants to get together about it... Prayer will work but you got to go in the neighborhoods. We got to re-educate people.”
Police say the city's latest homicide happened in the city’s twin pines neighborhood. Police say someone shot the teen on Saturday night and he died the next day.
“Forty-two years ago, my brother was 16 years old and was shot in the head. So, I’m not shocked," Ricks said.
Sharond Anderson, the civic league president for the Ebony Heights community, joined police officers on the RESET walk. She said she was motivated to help because of the young age of the city’s latest homicide victim.
“Community involvement -- that’s why I’m here," Anderson said. “It breaks my heart every time I turn on the news and I hear such a thing. I just wish things could have been different for him.”
Another Portsmouth resident, Anthony Murdock, said the violence needs to stop.
“Go back to the old days when I was a kid; I’m 60 years old. We used to fight with our hands, maybe a stick once in a while, but no guns," Murdock said. "Leave that to the military for war, not for the streets where you live - your community. That’s not right.”
Police have not given any details about a possible suspect or a motive. Detectives say this latest shooting is still under investigation.