PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The Portsmouth Police Department (PPD) responded to a deadly double shooting on Turnpike Road on Tuesday afternoon.
The shooting happened shortly after 3 p.m. just off Fredrick Boulevard.
Officers arrived to find two people shot. One of the victims was 20-year-old Khatori Harper, while the other victim was a 14-year-old boy.
An anti-crime activist said this incident just adds to the trauma this community is already facing.
“Anytime I hear that we lose young people, it is actually, like, traumatic,” Darrell Redmond said.
This is the second shooting in the city in as many days, and once again leaves the community grieving. At one point, a woman started screaming, "It’s time to stop the violence and if anyone knows something about this shooting they should report it to the police!"
Redmond said each time this happens, the community becomes more distressed.
"What we had was a bunch of babies looking around looking at trauma, which causes these kids to become desensitized to something that's not normal. That situation isn't normal” Redmond said.
Redmond runs GiveBack2daBlock. The group looks to uplift and empower folks across Hampton Roads through non-violence and outreach.
He said Tuesday's deadly shooting left him speechless.
"What more could we have done collectively for these kids?" he asked. "What could we have done more collectively, for this family? What could we have done more collectively for this community? What could we have done collectively as a city?”
A spokesperson for the PPD confirmed the department has investigated ten homicides so far this year. That is purportedly 41% less than the number of homicides recorded in the same period in 2023.