NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Newport News police say they’re conducting a homicide investigation after three men were found shot to death inside a home Tuesday morning.
Police have identified the three victims as Alvin Eugene Holiday, 61, of Williamsburg, Monroe McGilvary Jr., 60, also of Williamsburg and Derek Rico Jones, 36, of Newport News.
Just before 1 a.m., police responded to a shots fired call on Stallings Court, not far from Teardrop Lane and Cypress Terrace in the northern part of the city.
When units arrived, they found three men dead from gunshot wounds inside of a home.
Police Chief Steve Drew said in a briefing on Tuesday afternoon that investigators are still not sure exactly how it all went down, including who fired the shots, but they have interviewed a woman who was at the home at the time, but wasn’t injured. She was interviewed by police, but at this time she is not considered a suspect, Drew said.
Drew says narcotics were located in the home and that this did not appear to be a random act, adding that there have been several calls of service to the home before.
In response to a FOIA request, Newport News Police said there have been nine calls for service at that address in the past year, two of which were the initial call and a follow-up from this morning’s incident. The other seven calls include:
- 2 stolen vehicle calls
- 2 assist public
- 1 disorderly
- 1 suicide
- 1 breathing difficulty
Drew did say there were some details he couldn’t release at this time because it would affect the investigation, but laid out for reporters what he could.
He confirmed that at 12:55 a.m. they got a call from inside the house from the woman who lives there that three people had been shot.
The chief would not confirm the relationship between the woman who lives in the house and the three men shot, and possibly the shooters, but he says that is a conversation he is looking forward to getting the answer to.
He confirmed cocaine and marijuana were found in the house, but would not confirm whether guns were found. He said the previous police calls to the residence were not specifically for narcotics.
The chief said the three children were not there at the time, nor was the woman’s husband.
The chief says this was not a random act, but he said the community is safe.
“It was not a random act,” Drew said. “It was not just someone who is running around and selected this house and broke in and tragedy happened.”
The shooters were there for reason, and there was no evidence of a forced entry.
“What is our motive, I can tell you there’s narcotics located in the residence,” Drew said. “I think when we get to the bottom of everything, I think we are going to have two things blending together. We are going to have a narcotics situation and I think we are going to have an argument and somehow those two things blend together.”
Jones’ former wife, Jennifer Jones Futrell, said with tears outside Newport News Police headquarters that “nobody deserves to be murdered. No one deserves to lose their life no matter what the situation is. I want them to find his killer … I don’t have any idea why he was there. I got a phone call at work to tell me my ex-husband was murdered. He has kids.”
Drew said he could not go into the relationship of the woman to the narcotics.
“That is certainly some of the conversation we will have,” Drew said. “Those are the conversations going on right now with the detectives and those being interviewed.”
10 On Your Side also asked about the possible relationship between the woman who lives in the house and the shooters.
“We have to look at that in its entirety,” Drew said. “I can tell you it does not appear there was forced entry into the residence.”
That suggests the shooter or shooters were let in.
“Any individual in any community that would take the life of someone let alone, three lives, inside a residence that causes me great concern,” Drew said.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.