Two dead, five injured in Virginia shooting

Five people were injured and two others died in a shooting early Sunday morning in Norfolk, the Norfolk police department said.

Norfolk State University said on its social media platforms that “several” of the victims were students of the university and bystanders at a party.

The shooting was reported about midnight in the 5000 block of Killam Avenue, near Old Dominion University, according to the department. Officers found three men and four women with gunshot wounds when they arrived, police said in a news release.

At a news conference Sunday afternoon, Mike Goldsmith, interim police chief of Norfolk police, said a “fight broke out” at a party that had been advertised on social media, according to an initial investigation. During the fight, a person pulled out a gun and began firing, Goldsmith said.

The victims were all taken to a hospital, where two later died. Police identified the man and woman who died as Zabre Miller, 25, and Angelia McKnight, 19.

There were multiple guns involved in the shooting including a pistol and a long gun, Goldsmith said at the conference. Norfolk police have sent ballistic evidence to federal partners, according to Goldsmith.

The Sentara Norfolk General Hospital emergency room was placed on lockdown for about an hour due to the shooting until “hospital leadership determined the situation was stabilized and the emergency room could resume normal operations,” a Sentara Healthcare spokesperson said in a statement.

No Old Dominion University students were victims of the nearby shooting, Jonah Grinkewitz, a university spokesperson said. A campus alert went out around 12:45 a.m. alerting students and staff that police were investigating a shooting in the 5000 block of Killam Avenue and to “please stay out of the area.” Another alert was sent around 3:43 a.m. that said police were continuing the investigation and the “campus community may resume normal activities,” according to Grinkewitz.

Norfolk State University said in a tweet around 6 a.m. that “several NSU students” were victims in an “isolated off-campus” shooting near 50th Street and Hampton Boulevard, adjacent to the 5000 block of Killam Avenue.

In a post on Instagram, the university said students were “innocent bystanders of a shooting at an evening house party.”

An NSU spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions. The tweet also said NSU police had secured the campus and that counseling services were available for students.