RICHMOND, VA. -- Doing their best to cope with Regina Doctor's violent death, friends have been bringing teddy bears and candles to her home as a tribute.
Some have scrawled solemn messages in chalk on the outside of her building at the Hillside Court public-housing complex in South Richmond. Doctor's friend Shower Tyson doesn't want to let go. She has been spending time at Doctor's apartment.
"Still talking to her — laughing with her and stuff," Tyson said Thursday. "It sounds crazy, but that's what we've been doing."
Three of this year's four homicides in Richmond unfolded at Hillside Court, a complex of about 400 units east of Jefferson Davis Highway. Doctor was one of two women shot Tuesday night. The other survived. A man and woman were slain on New Year's Day.
In September, a 19-year-old woman was fatally shot in her apartment at Hillside. Her 3-year-old son informed a friend that his mother was dead.
The gun violence has residents on edge and has prompted police to boost their presence. Authorities have charged one suspect in the New Year's Day slayings and are hunting for a man in Tuesday's shootings.
"It's got us worried," said Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring, referring to the bloodshed at Hillside.
Authorities are providing few details about what led to the killings, but Herring spoke generally of problems at Hillside.
"We see more frequently than not some degree of acquaintance or history between some of the victims and the shooters, which suggests that people are moving in circles that erupt," Herring said. "Some of it's jealousy, some of it's turf, some of it's drug debt."
He also suggested that some victims are being caught in crossfire between groups of shooters.
Herring said that despite the recent killings, Hillside Court generally is safer than it was five or six years ago, when it was "marked by really chronic narco-violence."
Even so, he said, "it's difficult to prevent gun violence in the absence of a 24-hour occupation of an area by the police."
Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood said in a statement that he has deployed extra resources to Hillside to quell the violence and help prevent retaliation, but he declined to give specifics. He also cited progress in the investigations of the shootings.
Doctor, 29, liked to dress up and have a drink, friends said. She enjoyed dancing with children. "She loved her son," Tyson said. "She loved him so much."
Another friend, Quantell Bowser, said she was inspired by Doctor to stay out of trouble.
Shortly before Doctor was killed, she and Bowser walked to a nearby store to get cigarettes. They parted ways and agreed to play cards later that night.
Around 7 p.m., Bowser said she heard about six gunshots. She didn't think much of it. She said she hears gunshots every night.
She said she went to find Doctor, who was face-down outside the back of her apartment in the 1400 block of Harwood Street.
Bowser said she believes that Doctor, a graduate of John Marshall High School, was not the intended target. "She had to be in the crossfire," she said.
Doctor was killed by a gunshot to her body, according to the state medical examiner's office.
Alicia Rasin, founder of Citizens Against Crime, said Doctor was taking the trash outside when she was struck by a bullet from a shootout between two or more people. Doctor's 13-year-old son, Ru'Quan Doctor, heard the shots and held his mother until police arrived.
Authorities said the incident apparently started in the 1800 block of Southlawn Avenue and continued near the Hillside Court Community Center, near Doctor's home. Police have not named the surviving victim, and her medical condition could not be determined Thursday.
Authorities said Thursday that they were looking for Deandre Rayseem Yellardy, 19, and that he is suspected of attempted murder in Tuesday's incident. Yellardy, known as "Petey" and "Peedy," also lives in Hillside Court.
The police also said they had arrested Ivan A. "Slap" Smith, 29, of the 4000 block of Midlothian Turnpike, and charged him with two counts each of conspiracy to commit murder in the New Year's Day killings.
Killed early that morning were Alex R. Arrington Jr. and Coraliss A. Logan, both 25. Police responding to reported gunfire in the 1700 block of Southlawn Avenue found Arrington in the street and Logan in a vehicle a block away.
Arrington had been at Hillside to visit his girlfriend, who was not Logan, said Richmond prosecutor Toni M. Randall. She declined to say whether Arrington knew Logan.
Randall said police believe Arrington was an intended victim but that Logan wasn't. She declined to discuss motive.
Arrington died of multiple wounds to his head and body. A chest wound killed Logan.
"I fear for my life and my daughter's life," said Hillside resident Novi Goode. "This is just nowhere for anybody. I can't do it at all."
On Sept. 28, Sophia Alexander was discovered dead of a close-range gunshot wound to the head in her apartment in the 1800 block of Southlawn Avenue. When a friend came to check on her, the victim's 3-year-old son came to the door and told the friend that his mother was dead, Rasin said.
No one has been charged in Alexander's death, but Herring said the case is a priority.
"That is one that is front and center on my radar," Herring said. "There's no indication that this woman was involved in anything illegal. There's nothing about her death that would lead anyone to characterize it as 'street justice.' "
Alexander's death was the only homicide at Hillside Court last year, according to crime statistics on the Richmond Police Department's website.
Other public-housing complexes throughout Richmond had comparable numbers. One person was killed last year at Gilpin Court, one at Mosby Court, two at Creighton Court and none at Fairfield Court, according to police statistics.
rwilliams@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6332
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Results Loading...