Two dead, eight wounded in Virginia shooting

Overnight shootings near the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia Beach left two dead and eight wounded in a scene described Saturday by authorities as “very chaotic.”

One woman who died was likely an innocent bystander, authorities said, while the other person was killed by a police officer whose body camera was not activated at the time.

Three men between the ages of 18 and 22 have been arrested and face charges including criminal battery and reckless handling of a firearm, Virginia Beach police said in a statement Saturday.

The first shooting occurred shortly after 11 p.m. Friday along an open-air strip of hotels, clubs and restaurants that was thickly packed with people on one of the first warm days of the year.

Witness Akereia Drayton said Saturday that she was leaving a club Friday night after the shooting ended and saw “massive chaos” and many people running.

“People were literally falling in on themselves,” Drayton said.

Investigators believe the first shooting was due to a fight involving a group of people, police said.

“Several people drew firearms and began shooting at each other, resulting in numerous injuries,” the police department statement said.

Officers patrolling the area responded quickly, police said. But more shots followed several minutes later.

Police said they found a bystander a block away who died of her injuries in a second shooting incident. Investigators believe the woman’s death was not related to the initial shooting.

Around the same time, police said a uniformed officer in that area “encountered an armed citizen” and fatally shot him.

A firearm was found “in the vicinity” of the shooting, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said during a news conference Saturday night. The man was later identified as Donovon W. Lynch, 25, of Virginia Beach.

Neudigate said the officer who killed Lynch was carrying a body camera but, “for unknown reasons,” it did not activate.

“We would like to give answers to the community. Right now we don’t have them,” said the police chief.

A Virginia Beach police officer was also struck by a vehicle, authorities said. He was treated for his injuries and released from the hospital.

“We have a very chaotic incident, a very chaotic night,” Neudigate said.

A total of 10 people were wounded by gunfire, including the two who died, according to police.

Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital said four people wounded by the gunshots remained in the hospital Saturday. All four were in good condition, a hospital spokeswoman said in an email.

Three men were charged in the initial shooting incident, police said. They were identified as Ahmon Jahree Adams, 22, of neighboring Chesapeake, Virginia; Nyquez Tyyon Baker, 18, of Virginia Beach; and Devon Maurice Dorsey Jr., 20, of Virginia Beach.

Police said they are being held in a Virginia Beach jail. It is unclear whether they have hired attorneys, who could be contacted to comment on their behalf.

The bystander who died in the second shooting was Deshayla E. Harris, 28, from nearby Norfolk, police said. No arrests have been made in connection with his death.

The officer who killed was placed on administrative leave, police said. He has been with the department for five years and is assigned to its special operations division.

Lynch’s father told WAVY-TV that his son was “a father’s dream.”

Adrian Montgomery, a security guard who works at one of the beachfront hotels, said the initial shooting happened in an outdoor area where many young men hang out and “try to talk to the girls.”

Montgomery said a woman told a man that she did not want his phone number, prompting an altercation between that man and another man.

An exchange of gunfire between the two men followed, Montgomery said, before more shots were fired between people who were friends with each of the respective shooters.

“At that point, it just became a shooting gallery,” Montgomery said. “Whoever had a weapon and felt threatened shot … (They) were drawing weapons as if they were cell phones.”

Montgomery, 31, said the people he saw being shot appeared to be innocent bystanders. One of them was his 17-year-old nephew who had to undergo surgery.

Montgomery added that the Virginia Beach boardwalk, which includes a boardwalk, was packed with people standing shoulder to shoulder on a warm but tense spring night.

“There was no leeway,” Montgomery said. “When you have no leeway, someone is going to step on someone. And someone is going to try to be Mr. Tough Guy.”

On Saturday, police were still processing the crime scene, which included two entire blocks that mostly make up a city-owned parking lot.

Bill Feis, who lives a few houses from the parking lot, said he was in bed and could hear people talking loudly before the shooting, which he said “sounded like someone had thrown a pack of firecrackers.”