Newport News police investigating 10th homicide

NEWPORT NEWS —

— Days after making an arrest in the city's ninth homicide of 2012, Newport News detectives found themselves investigating the city's 10th.

A 22-year-old Newport News man was killed Thursday night after he was shot several times following a family party on Aqua Vista Drive.

Police said James Earl Little, of the 12700 block of Sandpebble Circle, was found unconscious and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds when emergency personnel arrived to the 600 block of Aqua Vista Drive about 8:35 p.m. He died after being transported to a local hospital, a police department news release said. Little's death was the city's 10th homicide of 2012.

Text NEWS to 71593 to receive breaking news. Click here for other text alert options.

Witnesses told police that the shooter was one of four men standing together. They were last seen getting into a silver sedan in the parking area of King Lincoln Park.

The past week has been a deadly one in the city. Little's death is one of two homicides that have occurred in the city since Monday.

On Monday, 57-year-old James Wesley Dix was waiting for the bus to take him to work at the corner of 25th Street and Parish Avenue when he was chased and shot to death after being robbed just after 5 a.m. — the city's ninth homicide. Police arrested and charged 17-year-old Darryl Eugene Booth in connection to the homicide, according to an affidavit for search warrant filed in Newport News Circuit Court.

The fatal shootings followed a string of violent activity in the Southeast community. Over the past two weeks, there have been five reported shootings and four armed robberies in the area. In addition to the most recent shootings, there was another homicide on July 1 on 33rd Street and Madison Avenue.

Crime was down in Newport News from 2010 to 2011. However, as of July 1 homicides were up slightly in the city year-to-date, while robberies were down, said Lou Thurston, police spokesman. He said there were two more homicides during this time period and 27 less robberies.

Thurston said the police department is concerned by the violent activity in the city and is stepping up patrols in hot spot crime areas. He said the department is using other strategies to crack down on crime —but declined to detail specific actions being taken.

Mayor McKinley L. Price said the city is currently reviving an anti-youth and gang violence program to address some of Newport News' crime issues. He said the plan will be presented to City Council in the next few months.

Price said the city needs to provide opportunities for people between the ages of 18 to 25 years old.

"We need to find them jobs, role models and things to do," he said. "An idle mind is a devil's workshop."

Councilman Rob Coleman thinks city government and the community need to come together to address the community's needs, such as jobs and substance abuse counseling.

"We need to focus on prevention instead of incarceration," he said. "The big thing is to reach out to young people."

Anyone with information should call the Newport News Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.

Read More @ Source



Criminal Stories Here

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Charges dismissed in grisly Ypsilanti Township triple homicide

Image
For nearly six years, they were locked up facing a possible death sentence for a grisly 2001 triple homicide in Ypsilanti Township. On Friday, a federal judge dismissed the charges against Deondre Byrd and three other men after a federal prosecutor said new evidence came to light last Friday that prevented the government from taking the case to trial. It was the second time in three years that Byrd escaped murder charges. He has been imprisoned in recent years for both the triple homicide and the slaying of a 16-year-old girl in Ann Arbor, but he has been convicted on only a federal gun charge. "Obviously, I'm pretty upset that almost 11 years later, we still don't have any answers," said Christy Brown, 30, a close family friend of the victims of the triple homicide. She said she got a call from federal prosecutors Thursday saying the case was being dropped, but they wouldn't elaborate. "I was very surprised. I honestly thought they were making some...
Keep reading

Flint's battlefield: A three-year murder map

Image
FLINT, MI -- There have been 189 murders in the city since 2010. Below is a map of the locations of each murder in the last three years, as well as the names of the slain on Flint's battlefield. The spike in murders occurred almost immediately after large-scale layoffs in March of 2010. By year's end the city had set a record with 66 murders, breaking the previous mark of 61 set in 1986. Killing continued in 2011 with 57 murders. A look at the map shows the majority of the murders took place on the north and east sides, historically the most economically depressed areas of the city. Just 25 murders in the last three years occurred south of Court Street. The map is color-coded by year. Green markers denote 2012 murders while red markers are from 2011 and blue from 2010. 2012 No. 1: Jan. 11: Kevin Berger, 55, died Jan. 11 after a Jan. 10 double shooting at his home on Keller Avenue near Welch Boulevard around 10:15 pm. Darius McGee, 25, was also critically shot. He survi...
Keep reading

Manslaughter charges dropped against Keys man accused of letting girl drive drunk before she crashed and died

Image
A manslaughter charge against a Marathon man accused of helping cause the death of a teenager by letting her drive drunk has been dropped due to what prosecutors say is lack of evidence. Michael Mearns, 26, the son of former Marathon Mayor Randy Mearns and grandson of former Marathon Councilwoman Margie Mearns, had been charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence following a Feb. 25, 2011, crash in which 17-year-old Amber Kogelis of Lower Matecumbe Key died. "You have to prove he knew she was drinking," State Attorney Catherine Vogel said Wednesday. "It's clear we do not have evidence of the impairment." That's even though an autopsy revealed Kogelis had a blood alcohol content of .125. In Florida, .08 is considered legally drunk. "It didn't rise to the level beyond a reasonable doubt," said Assistant State Attorney Paunece Ramage. "She wasn't stumbling, she wasn't holding herself up" in a video prosecutors re...
Keep reading