A mid-morning shooting left one man dead and Portsmouth Police searching for answers.
The shooting happened at roughly 10 a.m. Thursday. It took place outside a neighborhood mini mart just off of Elm Avenue on Duke Street in Portsmouth.
Bystander Tamika Hardy told News 3 she heard multiple gunshots.
"Yeah, it was about five or six of them. I was coming off the bus. It could have been me. I was close by," Hardy said.
She'd been walking through the area to get to work and she wasn't the only person outside, as folks frequent the area store.
"We were all calling 911," said Hardy. "I [was] really scared."
She said, although shaken, a handful of bystanders tried to help.
"I was right there when that man took his last breath. It took a whole lot out of me," said Hardy.
Portsmouth police responded to the 911 calls.
"Upon arrival, they came across a male victim with a fatal gunshot wound," explained Elexcia Washington, Portsmouth Police public information officer.
Police said one man died on scene. According to our homicide tracker, the individual is the fourth person killed in a shooting in Portsmouth this month and the 42nd person killed in Hampton Roads this year.
Police are still working to learn more about why this shooting may have happened.
"We are still investigating," Washington explained. "That's really all the details that we have at this time."
They have not yet released suspect or victim information.
Still, everyone wants the violence to stop.
"It's really sad," said Hardy. "I don't want to come back here any more."
We will update this story as we learn more.
