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12-year-old shot while asleep in Norfolk home

Posted at 4:53 AM, Dec 09, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-10 17:29:20-05

NORFOLK, Va. - Detectives are investigating a shooting that happened Sunday night in the 2300 block of Lafayette Boulevard.

A call about the incident was made to police around 11:30 p.m.

Residents say they heard several gunshots, and they later found out their 12-year-old neighbor, Travis Smallwood, had been shot.

Travis’s stepfather says the young boy was asleep on the couch downstairs when a bullet came flying through the house.

Smallwood was taken to CHKD with non-life-threatening injuries.

The family says they have been living on Lafayette Boulevard for two years and told News 3 gun violence like this has never happened before.

Keisha Edwards works at Minority Aids Support Services in Norfolk, just steps away from where the shooting happened. She says she doesn't always feel safe in the neighborhood and says a change needs to be made.

"We try, but you cannot do it alone. You need help, you need others and they need resources," Edwards said.

On December 10, detectives say they arrested a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy in connection with this shooting. They have been charged with Malicious Wounding, Shooting into Occupied Dwelling and Conspiracy to Commit a Felony and are both  being held at the Norfolk Detention Home.

If you have any information about the shooting, you can anonymously report your tip to the Crime Line: