VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Adrian Montgomery was working security for an Oceanfront hotel Friday night when he heard three gunshots, watched the shooter run from near the boardwalk to the middle of Atlantic Avenue, stop, and look at him.
The two men stared each other down, each with a choice to make: Should I shoot?
Neither did. Instead, a Virginia Beach Police officer came running from the boardwalk and chased the shooter down Atlantic, south toward 19th Street. Then, Montgomery and fellow security guard John Williams heard more gunshots. They didn’t see what happened, but believe that’s when the officer shot and killed the man they’d just seen.
Montgomery, 31, and Williams, 33, said they heard three more gunshots after the first series, on Atlantic Avenue but a little further north, toward 20th Street. They said they believe the original shooter missed his target, who then returned fire.
During all this, they watched a woman come out of a side door of the Nightmare Mansion on the northwest corner of 20th Street and Atlantic Avenue. She screamed, was shot, and dropped to the ground, they said.
There was still blood dripping down the door and pooling on the ground of the alcove on Saturday morning. Nearby, the back window of a Jeep SUV parked on 20th Street was blasted out and a bullet hole in the driver’s side back door, a police evidence sticker just above it.
To top things off, Montgomery’s 18-year-old nephew was one of the gunshot victims. Montgomery said his nephew is scheduled for surgery and it’s still unclear whether he’ll survive.
It was part of a chaotic series of events that turned the Oceanfront from a warm spring night of revelry into bedlam. When everything settled, two people were dead and at least eight others shot in at least two related late-night shootings. One man was shot and killed by police, and a woman was shot and killed.
A Virginia Beach police officer was involved in one of the shootings and an officer was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Police heard gunshots between 17th Street and 22nd Street about 11:20 p.m., then found several victims in the area. Eight people went to the hospital with gunshot wounds, ranging from serious to life threatening, according to a police press release.
Six people went to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital by ambulance, one to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and another — who has since been discharged — went to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, said Dale Gauding, a spokesman for Sentara, in a press release. Two others walked into Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital on their own, he said.
Two people also were treated at the scene but refused to be transported. It’s unclear if they are the two who walked into the hospital.
As police were investigating the shooting, they heard more gunfire nearby, around 20th Street and Pacific Avenue. It was there that an officer reportedly shot and killed the man.
“There was still gunfire going on when EMS arrived,” said Bruce Nedelka, a spokesperson for EMS. “Our crews were there in the hot zone as you call it.”
A woman was also shot in the area — it is not clear from police statements who shot her — and died from her wounds near the scene. She is not believed to have been involved in the initial shooting.
A video posted by BlackLivesMatter757 on Instagram appears to have captured audio of some of the chaos from the violence. Several loud shots can be heard, followed by screaming.
Police said in a press release that the officer who shot the man is now on administrative assignment pending the outcome of the investigation. The officer is assigned to the Special Operations Division. The officer has been with the department for five years.
Crews were on scene shortly after the initial dispatch call because a paramedic was in the area, he said.
Within minutes of the first shooting, gunfire broke out again, Nedelka said. That incident included a car accident that resulted in a police officer being hit, he said.
“It was a dangerous unfolding situation,” Nedelka said. “It’s one thing to watch emergency situations on TV, but it is another hearing the gunfire near you as you are there to help people who have been shot.”
As the sun was setting Friday night, the resort area was just getting busy. It was unseasonably warm, and humid for late March, and Atlantic Avenue was filling up with people in shorts and bathing suits.
Maria Cherry-Oglesby and her husband, Brian, decided to drive to the Oceanfront from Suffolk for dinner. They found a parking spot at a meter about a block away from a restaurant on 19th Street.
“It was a beautiful night, and we wanted to get out and enjoy it,” Cherry-Oglesby said.
At about 9:15 p.m., as they walked to the restaurant, they saw crowds on Atlantic Avenue.
“People were dancing on the sidewalk,” she said. “It was definitely a sign that outside was opening back up and people were ready to let loose whatever they’ve been holding in.”
They had dinner and drove home just after 11 p.m.
“We’re in the 40 and up demographic,” she said. “It was not our crowd down there.”
On Saturday morning, Cherry-Oglesby awoke to a text from a friend asking if she was OK. That’s when she realized that the shootings had happened in that area only minutes after they got in their car.
“We left just in time,” she said. “We’re glad we’re safe.”
Resort-area business owners were walloped by violence last summer coupled with the effects of the coronavirus. The city planned to beef up staff in the resort area through a new ambassador program to help make it safer and cleaner.
Friday night’s shootings, at the start of the tourist season, have businesses bracing again.
“It’s a tragedy for people who lost their lives and their families, I have to ask why? What’s the point?” said George Kotarides, president of the Atlantic Avenue Association, which represents businesses and neighborhoods in the resort area.
Kotarides owns several pizza shops on Atlantic Avenue and was gearing up for a busy spring.
“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “It’s like we take one step forward and three steps back.”
He said the association’s members are working to make the resort area a safe, welcoming place, but violence continues to set them back.
“We’re going through the worst time in a pandemic, and people are trying to get out of the house and enjoy themselves, and this is what happens,” he said. “It’s beyond disheartening.”
