News

Actions

Former professional model killed in weekend Virginia Beach shooting

Posted at 9:58 AM, Jun 29, 2014
and last updated 2014-06-30 23:28:21-04

Virginia Beach, Va. - A once-promising professional model was gunned down near his Campus East home in Virginia Beach over the weekend. 29-year-old Marcus Dentmond was shot to death Saturday night on Baccalaureate Drive. The shooter is still on the streets.

"It was at least ten rounds, maybe more,” says Brittney Long, a close friend who grew up with Dentmond and heard the shots from her home in the nearby Lake Edward neighborhood. “It was loud and sounded like more than one gun. It was like the gunshots hit me."

Long says she and Dentmond both went to Bayside Middle School and high school together. She says they stayed friends through his years of modeling when he frequently traveled to New York and DC for shoots. Photographers tell NewsChannel 3 that Dentmond was talented and could’ve gone far, but his criminal past kept him behind bars and out of the spotlight. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and spent more than a year locked up in Maryland.

Since his time in jail, Long says Dentmond stayed out of trouble, working hard to take care of his three young boys.

"They had a really, really good dad,” she says. “That's all he really wanted to do was take care of them. I don't understand why anyone would want to hurt him."

Dentmond's mother says he was at a barbecue with friends and family when the shooting started. Friends say he was not the intended target, but was instead caught in the crossfire after bullets started flying from a party across the street.

"I heard the shots,” Long says. “I didn't know what it was or what it was from. Then the next morning I got up and got on Facebook and all I see is RIP Marcus and I pretty much lost it after that. "

Candles, balloons and a final goodbye letter now sit just feet from where Dentmond died.

"I just hope they find who did this,” Long says. “His mom needs justice, his friends need justice, and everyone who knows Marcus needs justice."

If you have any information about this shooting, you can take action against this crime and call the Crimeline at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.