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Norfolk shooting leaves one person dead, three others injured

Posted at 8:15 PM, Feb 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-20 17:49:18-05

NORFOLK, Va. - Norfolk Police are investigating a Sunday evening shooting that killed one man and sent three other people to the hospital with injuries.

Police have identified the male victim as 28-year-old Thomas Leroy Hicks of Norfolk.

According to police, 911 calls for the shooting came in around 7:45 p.m. Sunday evening. Eyewitness told News 3's Merris Badcock there were so many gunshots, it sounded like a machine gun outside.

"We were enjoying Sunday dinner at my mother’s house, when I had to slam and lock the door, tell everybody to drop," said Queen Sheena, who lives nearby. "I thought we were being bombed."

Police say gunshots were fired from several cars traveling on Church Street on Sunday evening. Police say Hicks was driving a vehicle, and was hit with at least one bullet.

According to eyewitnesses, Hicks drove a couple blocks before crashing into an apartment complex on the corner of East Princess Anne Road and Church Street.

Medics pronounced Hicks dead at the scene.

Sheena was one of the first witnesses to the scene, and found Hicks inside his vehicle.

"Me and my cousin ran over. She is an R.N. She was like, 'I can help,' but once we saw him, we could not do anything but back away," said Sheena.

While investigating the area, officers found three females who had been shot during the incident. Police believe all of the female victims were inside vehicles exchanging gunfire and were not bystanders.

Police say one woman is still in critical condition, but another woman and a 17-year-old girl have been released from the hospital.

Police say they believe this is an isolated incident and there is no ongoing threat to the public.

The incident has Sheena and a few other neighbors taking to the streets to preach a message of peace.

"It is devastating, because our children were just outside riding bikes where the shooting actually occurred, where the shells were found," said Sheena, who also owns a nonprofit called Queens Helping Queens Supported by The King.

She calls the shooting senseless. "If you do not know how to talk out your issues, you need to go see someone and help work it out,' she said, holding a megaphone in her hand. "We need to put the guns down."

Anyone with information that can help police identify the suspect(s), is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.