NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A woman found dead in Newport News Thursday evening was shot, police say.
Newport News police said officers were dispatched to Tricia Lane, off of Jefferson Avenue and Dresden Drive around 5:30 p.m. Medics were already on scene when police arrived, and had pronounced a 24-year-old woman dead.
Police later identified the woman as Eimaja Jada Harris, saying she had been shot. No information on possible suspects was immediately released.
MPO Brandon Maynard with Newport News Police ran up to Harris’ mother privately and reminded her, “We want to find who did this. This is horrible. Nobody ever wants to hear their loved one, their child, is dead to a useless sense of violence,” Maynard said.
It was actually a family member that came to Eimaja’s Collinwood South apartment and found her dead.
“When the medics got there she was alone in her apartment and they pronounced her deceased … she was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds,” Maynard said. “I don’t know why the family was over there at the time, but we don’t have any suspect information at this point.”
Newport News police are in need of the suspect’s information.
Remember Eimaja was alone in the apartment with whoever did this, who was then able to leave unnoticed, and the apartment is across the street from the Newport News Police Central Precinct.
“We want people to call the Crime Line. I am the one who answers the Crime Line phone. You can ask for me. I don’t ask your name, your phone number, or anything about you. I just want the information, so I can give this to detectives,” Maynard added.
It should be noted the Crime Line does not have caller identification. It is blocked so no one can see who is calling, where they are calling from, or their phone number.
This has been a deadly year in Newport News, with 14 homicides and four in the last two weeks.
Last week, a man was killed in a domestic incident on Warwick Boulevard.
On Monday, a man was shot in the head at the Tarrytown apartments. On Tuesday, a 23-year-old died after a shooting and stabbing incident on Motoka Drive.
Then this one.
Maynard says “Newport News is a great place to live, work and, I know when they hear this news they may think otherwise, but that is not the case. Newport News is a great place with great detectives solving crimes like this one.”