PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Monday, it was business as usual at Ginos Pizzeria in Portsmouth.
Andre Dailey wasn’t phased by police activity that happened hours earlier near his business.
“There’s some stuff I’m not scared of. We can’t be scared of stuff like that because we all have guns around here," said Dailey.
Watch: Person shoots at officers in Downtown Portsmouth, bullets hit police vehicle
As News 3 has reported, Portsmouth police say officers responded to a report of gunshots near High and Dinwiddie St. around 2 a.m.
While investigating, police say, a man shot in the direction of officers. No officers were hit, but a police car was.
Police say after being shot at, the officers ‘challenged’ the suspect, which according to the police department means the officers pulled out their guns but didn’t shoot.
“This was a targeted event," Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins said.
Watch: Portsmouth PD chief addresses recent crime; says he needs 90 more officers
Jenkins said Vega is from Windsor, Virginia and came to Portsmouth because he’s not happy with police in Portsmouth.
“He did make conversation with us during interviews, and utterances to officers about the violence win the city. He didn’t feel like the officers were doing enough and he was going to teach us a lesson," Jenkins explained.
Jenkins said Vega was walking around with a shotgun and an AR-style rifle, one of which was stolen out of state, and fired sixteen shots from the rifle at the police car. How many times the car was actually hit was still under investigation Monday afternoon.
Whether he is allowed to possess guns or not was also still under investigation Monday. Jenkins said Vega is well known to law enforcement in Hampton Roads.
Watch: Portsmouth Police Chief says being shot at will not stop officers from doing their job
The chief said Vega also shot and damaged a camera because he doesn't like them in the city.
Dailey thinks police do a good job patrolling the downtown area. But one person - who didn't want to be on TV - works at another business and thinks crime is out of control.
"I would say to them that as a city and as a police department we are putting everything that we have into making our community, in particular our business area, safe," Jenkins said when asked what he would say to people who are concerned about crime downtown.
Watch: Portsmouth residents outraged by recent cases of violence across the city
News 3 asked Dailey if he planned to make any changes in response to the shooting.
“We’ll wait it out and see what the weather’s going to bring," said Dailey.
