As questions revolved on Saturday about the police shooting at a 25-year-old black man during several chaotic shootings in Virginia Beach, city police chief Paul Neudigate admitted to reporters on Saturday that there is no camera of the confrontation – and the police you have no idea if the man was armed.
“I don’t have many answers,” said Neudigate of Donovan Lynch’s death, who he said was “still under investigation.”
Lynch was killed at the hands of the police while the police responded to a shooting that they said had exploded while they were dealing with another unrelated shooting in the vicinity. Police said they faced “three separate shots” along the city’s waterfront on Friday night. Three men were arrested in connection with the first shooting of the night, which left eight wounded and occurred just minutes before the second shooting.
But the circumstances of the second shooting, during which Lynch was killed, remain unclear. Neudigate said only that the incident started as a physical altercation until several people drew weapons. Another victim died in the shooting, Desheyla Harris, 29, who Neudigate described as “an innocent victim hit by a missed shooting”.
Before Lynch was identified by the police as the victim of a shootout involving a police officer, an initial press release described the dead man as “an armed citizen”. But Neudigate openly admitted on Saturday that officials do not know whether Lynch was armed.
Instead, Neudigate could only say that “there was a firearm recovered in the vicinity of where the incident occurred.”
Asked by a reporter whether the police had evidence of the weapon belonging to Lynch, or that Lynch was armed at the time he was shot, Neudigate responded at close range: “No. At this point, no. “
Neudigate also could not say how many times Lynch was shot. And if anyone expected the camera footage to clear things up, the police chief said the camera was not on at the time of the fatal shooting.
“There is no body camera footage. The policeman was using a body camera, but it was not activated, ”he said, adding that the reason the camera was turned off would be“ part of our investigation ”.
“We don’t know what were the circumstances that preceded the shooting. There is an expectation [officers] activate the body camera. “
Investigators have not yet interviewed the police officer who shot Lynch, he said.
“I don’t have the answers that the community is looking for,” acknowledged the delegate. “I can’t stand in front of my community and answer difficult questions.”
Police arrested three men in connection with the shooting: Ahmon Adams, 22, Nyquez Baker, 18, and Devon Dorsey Jr, 20.
The press conference ended with a protester shouting “No justice, no peace!” The person can be heard calling Lynch’s death “a murder”.