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Portsmouth family questions man’s charges after shooting at grocery store

Posted at 11:18 PM, Aug 15, 2016
and last updated 2017-02-02 16:56:59-05

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Billy Stevens is still in a lot of pain after he was shot at the Food Lion on Victory Boulevard earlier this month.

"It's extremely painful," said Stevens. "It's just terrible."

Stevens and a teenage girl were shot on August 6. Both will be okay. Police charged Kievon Whitehurst with a misdemeanor count of reckless handing of a firearm. Stevens' parents say that's not enough. "[Whitehurst] could've killed him or anything. It's not fair," said Billy Stevens, the father of the same name.

It all started that Saturday night after a confrontation in the parking lot. Stevens says he's not sure what started, but says Whitehurst hit him in the mouth. Later that night, Stevens went back to the grocery store to get food when he saw Whitehurst again.

"He stepped toward me and I didn't back down, so he swung and I swung and we started fighting," Stevens said.

At someone point during the fight, Stevens says Whitehurst took out a gun and shot him in the knee. "Blood was just flowing out of my knee," he recalled.

Whitehurst's girlfriend was also accidentally hit. A family member of hers told News 3 Whitehurst isn't a violent person and would never hurt her on purpose.

A man who answered the door of an address listed for Whitehurst told News 3 "no comment."

Stevens is worried the shooting will impact his ability to join the US Marine Corps. "It's just really stressful because I was trying to get my life on track. I've been in ROTC for four years and trying to do everything right," he said.

On February 2  Whitehurst was indicted by a grand jury on charges of Reckless handling of a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon.