NEWPORT NEWS — A 15-year-old Menchville High School student was shot to death Tuesday morning as he waited at a school bus stop in southeast Newport News.
According to police, an alert from ShotSpotter — which traces sound waves to determine where gunshots are coming from — prompted officers to go to the 1200 block of 16th Street, just after 6:15 a.m. Emergency workers found the teen “with at least one gunshot wound.”
He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Another Menchville student told the Daily Press she was among about five or six other students waiting near the stop, at the intersection of 16th Street and Garden Drive, at the Stuart Gardens apartments.
The girl, also 15, said it was still mostly dark outside when she “saw this guy walk past me” on 16th Street. He was wearing a gray hoodie and a blue medical-style mask of the kind popular during the pandemic.
“And I didn’t think anything of it,” she said. “I knew it was kind of like, weird.”
Then, she said, she saw the male walk completely around a small residential apartment building at the corner of 16th and Garden Drive.
He then walked into the middle of the street on Garden Drive, she said. That’s when he suddenly pulled out a handgun and began shooting toward the 15-year-old male student who had just arrived at the bus stop.
“I saw him pull the gun out,” the girl said of the shooter. “I saw the flash, and I ran.”
Shots continued to ring out as she ran, with at least one bullet striking a car that was parked on 16th Street. Neighbors reported hearing five shots — three rounds in quick succession, then two more after a few seconds.
The shooter ran off, and he’s still at large. Police have not released a motive for the killing, and have not immediately released the slain teen’s identity. Suspect information was also not released.
“Thank God my kid didn’t get hit, because he was shooting in her direction,” said the girl’s father, who said he and his daughter were speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the potential for retaliation.
The girl said she didn’t know the slain boy well, but saw him on the bus beginning with the first day of school a couple weeks ago.
She said she was having flashbacks to last Thursday, when the boy was with a female friend at the bus stop. “And she was like, ‘Can I get a hug?’, and he was like, ‘No, I don’t want to.'”
“And I don’t know if they seen each other since then,” said the girl, who then broke down in tears at the memory. “It’s sad.”
The school bus arrived at the stop “almost immediately” after the shooting, the girl’s father said.
“It kind of got trapped there with the police coming,” he said. The bus, with about five students on board, remained at the scene for about an hour and a half.
Drew confirmed a school bus was in “close proximity” to the shooting, but couldn’t say exactly how far away. Investigators plan to interview those that were on the bus.
A neighbor who lives on 16th Street, Michael Banks, said he was lying in bed when “all of a sudden I heard gunshots” at 6:18 a.m. He said he heard five rounds.
“It sounded like a cannon,” Banks said. “I laid there and I told my wife, ‘Something’s going on across the street.'”
When the rescue squad and fire trucks pulled up a few minutes later, he said, “They jumped out of the truck, and they were running.”
“So I knew that whatever happened, it was serious,” Banks said. “They got out of the truck running. Evidently they knew that it was pretty bad.”
“Tragic events like this can be difficult to process,” Menchville High School Principal Jason Hollar said in a message to the district on Tuesday. “We recognize that some students and staff will need additional support and encouragement. Members of the school division’s support and response team are available at school today to meet and talk with students and staff.”
Drew said additional student resource officers and other resources were added at Menchville in response to the shooting. He added that there will be an officer stationed at the bus stop in the morning for the remainder of the week.
Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones released a statement commending the police investigation and quick response.
“Today our community was struck by a senseless tragedy,” his statement reads. “A young boy’s life has been cut short, and my heart aches for his family and loved ones during this unimaginable time. Words cannot fully convey the grief we feel.”
“My heart is just broken,” said Newport News City Council member John Eley, who represents the South District. “A 15-year-old lost his life.”
“Hasn’t even begun life yet,” he said.
Eley said his mother lives two streets from where the shooting occurred, and that she was “shaken up” by what had happened.
“I woke up to nine missed phone calls from my mother,” he said. “When I finally called back, she was hysterical about the situation. … She said, ‘John, I’m not calling as your mother. I’m calling as a citizen of Newport News. What can we do to help combat crime in the community?'”
Eley urged the community to “continue to come together during these times” — and if they know anything, to come forward to help the police.
“It’s a sad situation, but like I told reporters earlier, our city, our community, our police department and the citizens of Newport News work very closely together, and we will catch who did this crime,” he said.
“We have zero tolerance for crime in our city,” Eley added.
Council member Tina Vick, who also represents the South District, called the tragedy “disheartening.” She said she drove by the scene in the afternoon.
“It’s really just tragic that our young people — not all of them, but some of them — are in a mindset to think that this type of violence is OK when it’s not,” she said.
“And to see that some young person’s life has ended when they’re just trying to go to school — I’m deeply saddened by that. It really is a sad day in our city. A sad day in our city and the entire Hampton Roads region when we keep losing our children to this gun violence.”
Vick is urging the community to “support our children” and said anyone with information about what happened should come forward.
“I know for many people, it’s very difficult, but we cannot keep allowing our community to suffer through this type of violence,” she said.
Detectives and police forensics technicians were at the scene until about 11 a.m. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call 911 or the nonemergency number at 757-247–2500.
Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.com
Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com
Nour Habib, nour.habib@virginiamedia.com
Josh Janney, joshua.janney@virginiamedia.com
