NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)– It’s another world over there. That is how one resident describes the 1500 block of Berkley Avenue. Just before midnight, someone opened fire, shooting and killing 32-year-old Deneen Lymore and injuring a 37-year-old man.
The day after the violence, two people on the scene, including a man who identified himself as the victim’s brother, told 10 on Your Side the deceased is known as Tricey( Pronounced Tree-see), and the survivor is named Martinez (no last name given).
Nina Hunter, who lives a few yards away from the crime scene, is an earwitness to yet another case of gun violence near her home.
Nina Hunter: ” I heard it was like pow pow pow pow; I covered my head and started praying.”
Regina Mobley: You’ve done that before?
Nina Hunter:That’s what we do around here.
While police have not shared information on a suspect or motive, in the past decade police have tracked crime in the area to ongoing disputes involving young people in the Southside and Huntersville communities. The neighborhood is littered with the relics of generational dysfunction.
Regina Mobley: Tell me about some of the things you have found in this area right here?
Nina Hunter: I found panties; I found liquor bottles; I found a needle; I found drug baggies, all that, hair; everything right here.”
“The people have to be reckoned with; you may want to classify them a certain way but they need to have somebody who will talk to them and willingly engage with them and not look down on them. There are a lot of mental health issues and it’s just a whole lot of what I call it the deficit of life right now and we are in an all-time low.
Mental health care is now in the Southside of Norfolk. Last fall Sentara opened a Community Care Center on East Berkley Avenue and South Main street. For more information call 757-388-1830