NORFOLK, Va. — One person was killed and another injured in a late-night shooting at a Norfolk 7-Eleven, police said.
It happened after 11:30 p.m. Thursday at the 7-Eleven located at 1088 W. 26th Street. Officers arrived to find a store employee inside suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. A second gunshot victim was found outside the store.
That second victim, later identified as 25-year-old Walter E. Painter, was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Painter's death marks the 14th person shot to death in Norfolk this year.
"It kind of hits home when something like this happens, if I knew the child or not," Clayton Marquez said Friday afternoon.
Marquez knows the 25-year-old’s family and said it’s a sad day to see another young life taken.
"Especially someone that you know, that you’ve seen as a youngster growing up. It just doesn’t make sense. We just losing so many lives, unfortunately."
Marquez, a gun violence activist, runs the advocacy group "Guns Down."
"I go to so many funerals. It don’t make sense. The young men that are losing their lives, and women, they’re under 25 years old," he said.
He said he just sat down with Norfolk’s new Police Chief Mark Talbot on Thursday and he does have hope for the future.
"He was empathetic and he lent his ear and he was listening to some concerns that I had, as well. So, I think that, hopefully, Norfolk will be on the right foot going forward," Marquez said.
For now, he has a message for any young people listening.
"Put the guns down," said Marquez. "It’s not worth it. It’s not worth spending your life in prison or losing your life behind something that doesn’t even really matter."
This is the third deadly shooting at a 7-Eleven in the area this month.
A clerk was fatally shot by two gunmen at a Suffolk 7-Eleven early on the morning of May 5. No arrests have been made in that shooting.
On May 6, two men died after a fight led to a shooting outside a Hampton 7-Eleven. Police haven't released any suspects in this case.
The Norfolk shooting remains under investigation. Police ask that if you know anything that might help detectives, to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP. You can also submit a tip online at P3Tip.com.