NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – A local community activist confirmed with 10 On Your Side that his son was killed during a shooting late Thursday night in Norfolk.
Bilal Muhammad told 10 On Your Side’s Lauryn Moss that his son, Ali K. Muhammad, was killed in a shooting on 1st Bay Street. Ali Muhammad was on his way to work, according to his father, and the two were on the phone with one another when his son was killed.
“My son says, ‘Put that gun out of my face, take it out of my face,'” Bilal Muhammad said through a megaphone during a Friday morning vigil. “I’m on the phone listening to the conversation. Bam, pow, a gunshot, a gunshot – just like that. I hollered. I hollered. I called his number back. No answer. No answer.”
During the vigil the father who leads the “Stop the Violence Team in Norfolk” went through the apartment complex with megaphone in hand,
“We will find out who did it. It could be your child next, anybody’s child next, if this is what you are going to allow to go on in this community,” Bilal Muhammed said with great urgency and passion.
According to police, the call for a report of a gunshot victim came in around 10:35 p.m. in the 9600 block of 1st Bay Street. When officers arrived on the scene, they found 33-year-old Ali Muhammad suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound. Police say he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Several dozen people, including Bilal Muhammad, gathered for the vigil Friday morning in the area of the shooting.
Bilal wanted answers, and the megaphone he was speaking through was sending a message loud and clear – seeking justice, and answers from a street that doesn’t talk.
“And each and every one of you out there who heard something, say something,” Bilal Muhammad said. “Say something, you should know. It could be your child next. It could be you next.”
The vigil was emotional
“Bilal has been fighting against violence for decades and now,” said Pastor Terrance Williams, breaking down while recalling all Bilal Muhammad has done to stop the violence, and now that violence has come home to him.
Williams, unable to continue talking, walked back to his friend, and the two shared a warm embrace only close friends could share.
The picture floating around is of Ali Muhammad with his three angels – his daughters, ages 8, 7 and 3. He was a big part of their lives. Their mother, Kelly Shaw, was nearly unable to talk through her tears.
“My girls, they love their dad,” Shaw said. “They loved him. He got them half the weeks. Half was mine, half was his.”
The girls were front and center at the vigil. There were tears.
They were standing with their grandfather, Bilal Muhammad.
“Take a good look at our son, his three daughters,” Bilal Muhammad said. “Please take a look at them. Show them the love. They got a long future ahead of them, and that they grow up and be protected.”
Muhammad is now seeking answers in the name of his slain son. With the megaphone he says, “we know exactly, you know who did it and we won’t rest. … God is going to put you up to light. He is going to expose you. We are going to show you that you are the one. That you are the one who had something to do with it.”
This was one of three shootings that took place overnight Thursday in Hampton Roads, with two other shootings occurring on Dunedin Rd. and Jefferson St. in Portsmouth.
Bilal Muhammad vows to fight for justice.
“We will be back the next day, and the next day, and the day after that, and it will never stop until justice be done,” Bilal Muhammad said.