Norfolk, Va. - While it seems gun violence has been out of control in Norfolk these days, that's actually not the case.
This time last year, police say they responded to several more shootings compared to this year.
From January first through March 30th, police say there were 23 shootings and eight deaths reported last year compared to 16 shootings and six deaths this year.
But numbers mean nothing to folks who say the sound of gunfire has become all too commonplace in their neighborhood.
"It's at your doorstep and so at any given time, anything can occur and so it's very difficult to walk forward always looking over your back,” Mia Studivant says.
Studivant says she heard gunfire Sunday around the same time police confirmed that a man was shot at the Norfolk Masonic Lodge on East Princess Anne Rd.
That man was one of three shot this weekend.
Right now, police have their hands full investigating eight separate shootings around the city in the last ten days.
18-year-old Tyquisha Craig is the only one so far who lost her life.
“I don`t want another mother to feel what I`m feeling. I just want the cycle to stop. I bet you on everything it`s going to stop because I`m not going to stop until they get who did this to my daughter,” Craig’s mother, Bridgette Wiggins, says.
Police don't have any suspects in Craig's case yet. She was shot and killed outside a house party off Tidewater Drive last weekend.
The same weekend, witnesses say two kids were hit by bullets in a drive-by shooting on Charlotte Street.
Police don't have any suspects in that case either.
In fact, out of the eight recent shootings, police only have warrants out for 32-year-old Donald Fultz, Jr. They believe he shot another man during an argument on Manson Street Friday.
Until police make their presence known in certain neighborhoods, Studivant says the shootings won’t stop.
“If they were to step up and make their presence here known and not make it a fearful situation, I guarantee it would be something; it's like role models almost.”
Overall, police do say there have been more homicides in the city – 12 this year vs. 10 last year.
