'A blessing and a phenomenal young woman' is Petersburg's 17th homicide victim of the year

PETERSBURG — Police are investigating a shooting in the city’s east end Saturday morning in which a woman was killed.

The shooting was reported around 1:40 a.m. in the 2000 block of East Washington Street, according to a police statement. Once on the scene, officers found 22-year-old Chyna Lynette Harrison with a life-threatening gunshot wound. She was airlifted to a Richmond hospital where she later died.

Police Chief Travis Christian said while authorities were investigating Harrison's shooting, a second victim showed up at a local hospital. She had been shot at the same time as Harrison, but her injury was not considered life-threatening.

The death was Petersburg’s 17th homicide of the year, four more than at this same time in 2021. Last year, 18 people were killed.

No suspect information was immediately available.

An investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Anyone with information about it is asked to contact Petersburg-Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at (804) 861-1212 or use the P3Tips mobile app on a mobile device.

The day before her death, Harrison, a certified nursing assistant, posted on Facebook that she had just accepted a care partner job at VCU's clinical transplant center. She called it "the job I've been waiting for."

The victim's family and friends took to Facebook to mourn her loss.

"Big Sis will miss you forever!" Tonya Turner wrote. "I always told you I lived my life through you because you were such a blessing and a phenomenal young woman!! I’m so torn , hurt and numb right now! [broken heart emoji]."

Kamryn Edmond wrote that Harrison was "literally my first friend" at Richard Bland College, and they had talked about celebrating their November birthdays together this year.

"Gun violence is taking too many lives and the people I care about," Edmond wrote. "I can’t take too much more of it really. It has to stop. I love you, Chyna. Rest easy, love." [red heart emoji].

Paradise Restaurant, located on East Washington Street, closed its doors over the weekend in Harrison's memory. The restaurant's owners called her "a lovely person that we all knew and love very much."

A GoFundMe account for funeral expenses has been established by her older brother, Tyrell Harrison, who said "the sky was the limit" for his sister's future. Tyrell Harrison also said candlelight vigils for his sister will be scheduled later in Petersburg and Emporia.

More:'He wanted to have equity for everybody': Chesterfield names library after Wyatt Tee Walker

More:Investigation underway in Hopewell of reported skeletal remains

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg Police say woman shot to death in city over the weekend