VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate has formally requested that Virginia State Police take over the investigation of Friday’s officer-involved shooting at the Oceanfront, according to a brief news release the department posted on Twitter Tuesday.
A Virginia Beach officer, whom the department has declined to identify, shot and killed 25-year-old Donovon Lynch during what Neudigate has described as a chaotic night of violence.
“The Lynch family and the involved officer each deserve a comprehensive and thorough investigation into this incident, and we appreciate the public’s patience as we pursue every facet of it,” Neudigate wrote in the release.
The officer is a five-year veteran of the department assigned to the special operations division, police have said, and is on administrative assignment during the investigation.
Sgt. Michelle Anaya, a Virginia State Police spokesperson, confirmed the agency’s Chesapeake field office had taken over as of Monday night but declined to provide details on what the investigation will include.
“Since this is a criminal investigation, there is no information that can be provided at this time,” she wrote in an email. “Once the investigation is concluded, all reports and findings will be provided to the Commonwealth Attorney as in all officer involved shootings.”
Police initially claimed Lynch was an “armed citizen,” but at a news conference Saturday night, Neudigate said there was no evidence that a gun found “in the vicinity” of the shooting was Lynch’s. He also said the officer who shot Lynch did not have his body camera activated and investigators did not know why.
On Monday, police reversed course again, saying that Lynch “was brandishing a handgun at the time of the shooting,” according to their interviews with the officer who shot Lynch and another officer who witnessed the shooting. Police said an independent witness said in an interview that Lynch had a gun earlier that night.
