NORFOLK, Va. - Family members of 46-year-old Derrick Rountree are joining calls to put down the guns and stop the violence.
Members of the Stop the Violence organization say they are concerned after three deadly shootings in Norfolk happened within 24 hours of each other this week. The latest happened near a Shop N Go store near East Virginia Beach Boulevard Thursday night where 46-year-old Derrick Rountree later died from his injuries.
Rountree’s aunt says he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"I’m about to break down but he’s a good person. He would come to my house with my son. They were tight. Everytime he would act up I would get my switch to him. I don’t know why that had to happen to him. The store here has cameras. Why they can’t see it.
Rountree's family says he was a barber who would often cut hair in the neighborhood.
"All this killing among the youth, it has to stop. It’s terrible," another family member said.
A member of Stop the Violence says he was nearby when the gunshots rang out when Rountree was shot.
"I was across the street near the Martin Luther King monument park, me and another lady giving out clothes to the homeless. We heard firecrackers but after that stopped around about 9:20 shots rang out. As shots rang out, we heard bullets from way over here and it hit several cars in Young Terrace and we had to literally run for cover," James Washington said, a member of Stop the Violence who lives in the neighborhood.
"My suspicions were confirmed. Somebody was shot and later that night, they died," Washington said.
The shooting was the third homicide in Norfolk within 24 hours. Another man was fatally shot Wednesday night on Woodview Avenue. 48 year-old Tridarrell J. Reap was declared dead at the scene. Another man was fatally shot that same night on Berkley Avenue Ext. Police are investigating the shootings and no suspects have been named.
"When you have that much shooting, crime taking place in the community, less than three days that tells you that there’s a strong lacking in participating for the growth and development in the community," Bilal Muhammad said, Chair of Stop the Violence.
Muhammad is calling on community members to get involved in the community.
"We’re asking the community, leaders, family to show more concern, be more vigilant and become more involved in activities that’s taking place in your neighborhood. This is a strong approach. If we can make that approach, hopefully, we can reduce the shootings and guns taking place in the community," Muhammad said.
Family members of Rountree left balloons and flowers in his memory in front of the Shop N Go.
