PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – A 20-year-old has died following a shooting Tuesday evening in Portsmouth.
According to police, the call for the shooting came in around 4:54 p.m. in the parking lot near a Dunkin Donuts in the 3000 block of Turnpike Rd. When officers arrived on the scene, they found Ja’Son Randolph with a fatal gunshot wound.
On Wednesday, the Dunkin Donuts was open for business as usual. 10 On Your Side spoke with a witness who says he was feet away from where bullets began flying.
“Yesterday we were coming out of this Cox Cable store right here. We were parked right about here in this little area right here. As we were coming out here, a saw a kid run past me as I had my grandson on my arm and my wife walking to the car,” said the man who asked that we not show his face or use his name for fear of his safety.
That kid? 20-year-old Ja’Son Randolph.
“I’m buckling my grandson in. Next thing I know I heard was a loud bam, bam, bam, bam. bam, bam, bam like 9-10 times,” the man recalled, “In that heat of the moment you really don’t know. What if them bullets would have been missing and hitting other people?”
He quickly jumped into his car and sped out of the parking lot. He pulled out onto Frederick Blvd. then back into the Kroger shopping center. That’s when he took out his phone and began filming.
“No sooner I look up it’s a like a frenzy. Cars are going here, cars are going there. I look up and see what looks to me like a child laying in front of the Dunkin Donuts with a numerous amount of holes in him,” the man stated.
His ears, still ringing nearly 24 hours later from the sound of gunshots and how close they were.
“It was chaotic. Very unsafe moment,” the man said.
He tells us his grandson is three years old and luckily too young to understand the danger of what happened. He hopes whoever is responsible is caught soon and prays for the victim’s family.
“There’s so much to do in the city of Portsmouth now. Look it up online. Put the guns down, please,” he stated.
No further information has been released at this time. The investigation is ongoing.
Check with WAVY.com for updates.