NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A big celebration was planned for 20-year-old Stariyana Patterson’s 21st birthday.
As a child, Patterson spent many years with Grandpa Horace and Grandma Bertha. They were going to treat her to a trip to Washington D.C. and give her a silver charm bracelet.
Horace Reeves and Bertha Church Reeves will take the trip to the nation’s capital, but instead of birthday plans, they will soon make funeral plans.
They told 10 On Your Side their only grandchild was gunned down Tuesday outside the Parkwood Manor apartment complex at the corner of W. Little Creek Road and Major Avenue. That complex is 1.5 miles west of the Wards Corner section of Norfolk.
While police have provided no details about any suspects or other people involved, the grandparents say the senseless violence followed a dispute between the victim’s boyfriend’s sister and a group of men.
“They were at the beach and his sister called to say someone was attacking her. They decided to leave the beach and go see about his sister. She got shot and they say she got shot in the face,” said Church Reeves.
Patterson attended schools in the Bayview area of Norfolk and she attended high school in Virginia Beach. Her grandparents say she was considering a career as a merchant marine.
Her grandparents said Patterson was excited about her birthday plans, and put simply, “was an excited person.”
Now, her grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran, is on a mission to curb the senseless violence that occurs almost daily in his hometown.
“I’m gonna start making a circle and I’m going to start by talking to each and every individual that I can come in contact with to tell them to do their part to curb this violence. Otherwise, we are going to have a generational deficit,” said Reeves.