NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A shooting in broad daylight in Newport News has many on edge. Police continue to look into a shooting that sent a teen to a hospital.
We spoke with Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew, and the circumstances that led up to this shooting are still unknown.
"My father was coming saying something happened here, somebody got shot," said Nazmin Nahar, who witnessed the shooting.
A sense of panic among Nazmin Nahar and her father who heard gunshots ring out, just a few feet away from their tire and auto repair business.
"I saw that the guy was laid down he could not get up and people were running this way and just shooting," said Nahar.
"I heard about 5 shots," said a concerned resident.
Those shots, striking a teenager. Police say a male teen was shot on Jefferson avenue right near Newport News police headquarters around 2 pm.
"When police came we tried to show them, that's where it happened, and one person tried to help him up but he couldn't get up," said Nahar.
Our News 3 reporter was at the scene gathering details and asked Nahar did she see one shooter or two.
"That we don't see," said Nahar.
Nahar tells Jones she saw the teenager trying to hide in a blue trash can after he'd already been shot. Jones also asked Nahar if her surveillance cameras caught anything and she said no. However, this incident has her on high alert.
"Daytime this happened, so where is our security?" asked Nahar.
Just down the street long time resident Fritz Irwin said he never thought gun violence would hit so close to his home.
"I first moved out here 37 years ago and it was really bad. A lot of drugs, shootings, and now it's getting to where it's not that much drugs, but it's a lot of shootings that's starting to go on again. That's why I got bulletproof windows and got stone out here in the front. That's all you can do," said Fritz Irwin, a concerned resident.
Newport News police Chief Steve Drew tells News 3 he has been in contact with the school the teenager attends. As of Sunday night, he remains in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, and no arrests have been made.
"All I can do is just be a bystander and hope no one shoots me," said Irwin.
With 22 homicides so far this year in the city, according to police, violence yet again is leaving its mark.
This is an ongoing investigation.
