PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Investigators have charged and arrested a man withkilling four people inside a home on Maple Avenue in June.
Raymond Gore was arrested on August 18 in reference to a separate shooting that occurred near the 4100 block of South Street. He has been charged with numerous charges, including aggravated murder of multiple persons.
The Portsmouth Police Department hosted a press conference at 1 p.m. on Wednesday outside of the home where the shooting happened.
Ashley Merricks, Oleisha Mears, Georgio Lee, and Samuel Jones all died in the shooting.
Family members of the victims attended Wednesday's press conference. "It's sad, but I'm trying to hold my composure, but how could anyone just do this? Four people..." said Evelyn Lomax. "Just knowing that they have picked up someone for this senseless crime - it makes us feel like today is their day."
Court documentsdo not provide any additional details about a potential motive.
Gore declined to speak with News 3 from jail.
Last week, police said they were also looking for a man named Antwann Gore, a relative of Raymond Gore, in connection to the shooting. Gore faces four counts of aggravated homicide, four counts of use of a firearm, and four counts of shooting in the commission of a felony. Police say Antwann Gore is considered armed and dangerous.
Earlier this month, News 3 uncovered a search warrant that shed new light on the case.
Court documents say one of the tenants inside the house heard a knock at her door, but she didn’t answer. She did not open her room door but did hear her roommate, Ashley Merricks open the door and scream.
She heard a man’s voice demanding to know where was someone by the name of ‘Lil Baby’ and then heard gunshots. The shooter went upstairs and more gunshots were heard, according to an affidavit News 3 obtained.
Court records say a concerned citizen saw two people getting into an SUV in the area and police obtained surveillance footage of the SUV on Maple Avenue around the time of the shooting.
Police later located the SUV the day after the shooting and saw Raymond Gore and another man standing next to the vehicle, according to the search warrant.
The other man told police he had the SUV all day on the day of the shooting and that no one else had it.
Investigators said due to the video evidence they had obtained they determined those statements to not be true.
The search warrant says Raymond Gore matched the description given to police by a witness as a suspect.
The interim police chief said the tips from the community aided them a lot. "The fact that the community was outraged enough to pick up the phone and to call and to share whatever information they had helped us to get to this point today," Chief Stephen Jenkins said.
Those with information about this incident or the whereabouts of Antwann Gore to contact the Investigations Bureau at 757–393–8536. Or call the Crime Line at **TIPS (**8477).
