NORFOLK, Va. - It’s a first for the Norfolk Police Department--investigating a shooting that was caught on Facebook Live.
Twenty-four hours after gunshots filled the 900 block of Bainbridge Blvd, Norfolk Police officers were still patrolling the neighborhood.
However the courtyard and sidewalks, usually buzzing with kids in the summer afternoon and evenings, only had scattered shell casings and old crime scene tape.
"You hear nothing, it's quiet out here," says Sherry Drummond, a neighbor. "Today you just have to kind of second guess, should you let your kids go out?"
The live recording, taken by one of the victims, made national headlines.
"It's a sign of the times," says Drummond.
News 3 estimates approximately 30 rounds were fired, based on sounds from the video.
“I thought it was firecrackers, because you know, leftovers from the 4th of July,” Rudolph Carney, a neighbor where the shooting took place, told News 3. "I stopped counting after 15."
Carney is just one of the neighbors who called 911, and stayed with the victims until help arrived.
“I saw this car, right? And then I saw this hand. You know, there was this hand, and then I looked, and there were two guys laying out in the street,” Carney told News 3. “I looked later on, and there was another in the car with blood running down his nose.”
News 3 has learned the identity of the three victims, but we are choosing not to identify them before police.
A childhood friend of the three victims who wanted to remain anonymous, says the three victims are all related to one another.
He says he told one of the victims about making national headlines; a conversation he says was bittersweet.
“I showed him that they had him on Wikipedia and everything, and he was like, ‘man that’s crazy.’ It’s crazy that he had to get fame like this.”
He said he felt helpless watching his friends lie there waiting for help.
“It’s tough to watch, very touch to watch.”
A family member tells News 3 that two of the victims are talking and moving. The third victim can squeeze hands, but is not talking just yet.
Police hope the victims can help them find the person responsible, since the identity of the shooter wasn’t caught on camera.
If you have any information about this incident that can help police, call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
