VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Beach police have arrested and charged a Portsmouth man accused in a shooting incident in Town Center.
On Saturday around 4:10 p.m. police responded to reports of gunshots near Apex Entertainment.
When officers arrived on the scene, they found spent shell casings by an entrance to the parking garage.
Officers quickly began clearing each level of the garage and eventually located a single suspect, 30-year-old Eric Oliver of Portsmouth.
Oliver was taken into custody and officers recovered a Glock 23, .40 Caliber Pistol, equipped with an extended magazine on his person.
No injuries were reported.
Chris Green told 10 On Your Side he was heading to an office party at Apex Entertainment Center when he heard about six gunshots.
“And literally as soon as I was pulled in the parking garage, got around the corner, “pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow,” Green said. “I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ And then everybody just started hitting the brakes. All you hear was wheels spinning inside like everybody was in a panic because they didn’t know what to do. I don’t know where the shots were coming from. It was kind of scary.”
He said he saw the suspect(s) after shots rang out.
“And obviously it was a group of young guys just taking off running,” Green said.
He also said he didn’t hear any cars get struck by the bullets.
“Nothing sounded like it was hitting metal,” Green said. “It sounded like it was hitting the walls. And some of them were actually, I guess, clearly coming through because some of the shell casings ended up like right outside the entrance.”
He told 10 On Your Side at the end of the day, he’s just glad it didn’t turn out as bad as it could’ve.
“You’ve got a parking garage full of innocent people,” Green said. “People shooting. We don’t know who they’re shooting, what they’re shooting for. But it was it was unnecessary. It ruined a lot of nights.”
Oliver faces two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling, felony use of firearm in commission of a felon, violent felon in possession of a firearm, discharge of a firearm within city limits, two counts of destruction of property, reckless handling of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm in public, shooting across a roadway, and public intoxication.
WAVY has confirmed with the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office that Oliver is due back in court on these charges on May 9 for a preliminary hearing.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.