VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The man who allegedly stabbed two people and kidnapped three children, culminating in a crash that killed an infant, had been forced to surrendered his firearms just months before.
On March 17, an Emergency Substantial Risk Order (ESRO) was filed against 36-year-old Dana Demetrius Plummer of Virginia Beach after an incident at a Chili’s restaurant on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
According to court documents, Plummer was concealing a shotgun in his pants while at the restaurant with his family and seemed “to be going through a crisis.”
The responding officer(s) reported that Plummer believed he was in danger.
He had called 911 earlier about someone spying on him from his attic, requesting a police search of the premises. The document notes that when officers responded for that call, they found no evidence someone had broken in.
“Dana also left two loaded rifles with large drum magazines, a shotgun, and two handguns out in plane sight and they were not tampered with,” it reads.
“While speaking with him, Dana was exhibiting behaviors I found through my training and experience to be consistent with that of paranoid schizophrenia,” the document continues. “He stated he saw eyes looking down at him from a vent in the ceiling and thought about grabbing his pistol to shoot at the person.”
Another document shows that Plummer ultimately transferred ownership of his firearms to a relative on April 26, believing the order was only in effect for 90 days. A hearing to amend the order was continued in May.
Prior to the stabbing and kidnapping incidents, the ESRO, or “red flag order,” was supposed to remain in place until October, according to the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
Court paperwork also showed that Plummer was in the Navy from at least as far back as 2015 and was on active duty at the time of the Chili’s incident in March.
According to documents related to a January 2015 DUI charge, Plummer listed his place of employment as the USS Eisenhower.
At that time, he’d lived in Hampton Roads for nine months, been in the Navy for four years and had no local relatives.
According to divorce filings, Plummer got married in July 2018 and apparently got divorced over the summer of 2022.