PORTSMOUTH, Virginia -- An on-duty police officer was shot multiple times Monday afternoon in the 2500 block of Hickory St., police said.
She was taken to a hospital and was out of surgery Monday night – in critical, but stable, condition, according to police. A teenage male suspect was in custody Monday evening, said Detective Misty Holley, a spokeswoman.
Crime-scene tape roped off parts of the London Oaks apartments and a section of the Mount Hermon neighborhood around where the shooting took place.
The woman was a uniformed patrol officer who was working a normal shift, Holley said.
Val Grimstead was outside cleaning his car in Mount Hermon on Monday afternoon when he heard about six or seven shots, he said.
He said he may have heard someone yell, but “it was far away” and hard to tell.
He ran inside. Within minutes, officers swarmed the area.
“I’ve never seen so many cops in my life,” he said.
More than a dozen police vehicles covered the area, including a K-9 SUV, a forensics SUV and marked and unmarked cars. Several fire department vehicles also were there.
Grimstead and several others said Mount Hermon is usually fairly quiet.
But one London Oaks resident said gunfire is a common occurrence near her home.
She pointed to a bullet hole – a remnant of recent gunfire – on the outside of her house. Several people have been shot in the area in recent months, said the woman, who asked that her name not be used.
The crime scene is two blocks from where a couple was shot while trying to buy a cellphone Oct. 28. They had connected with the supposed seller through the OfferUp app, but when they got to the 2500 block of Moton St., they were surrounded, and someone started shooting, the husband’s father told The Pilot.
On Saturday, officers were called to the 1100 block of Virginia Ave., about a half-mile north, for a report of a gunshot wound. Additional information was not made available by police on that shooting.
Police ask anyone with information on any of the recent shootings to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
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