Hopewell residents identified as victims in double murder stemming from rolling gun battle

HOPEWELL — January is just past its halfway mark, and the city is already one-third of the way to its homicide total for all of 2022

A man and woman died early Wednesday morning after they were shot multiple times during what police believe was a rolling gun battle through an east Hopewell neighborhood.

The victims have been identified as Robert Lewis Bryant Jr., 33, and Jessica Lynn Collins, 35, both of Hopewell.

The incident happened around 2 a.m. at Arlington Park in the 2700 block of Courthouse Road. Police Chief A.J. Starke said residents in that area called police dispatch about shots being fired. When officers arrived on the scene, Starke said, they found the victims in a car that had crashed into an iron railing on steps leading into the park.

Doorbell cameras in the neighborhood captured the sounds of rapid multiple gunfire. One house near the park was hit by at least a dozen bullets from the exchange.

Emergency personnel attempted to resuscitate both victims, but they were pronounced dead at the scene. Starke said his department was still investigating and did not say if there was any proof the two victims may have fired at their pursuers.

No motive or suspect descriptions were available. Starke said investigators were combing the area looking for any home surveillance videos or witnesses to the crime.

Kierra Baker, who lives across the street from the park, told The Progress-Index she heard some noises around 2 a.m. "and my dog was going off."

"All I heard was 'boomp, boomp, boomp,'" Baker said, stomping her foot for emphasis. "And I was about to go out because I thought someone was knocking at my door at 2 o'clock in the morning. Then I hear these 'boomp, boomp, boomps,' you know, they were continuing, and I realized they are some guns, apparently some big guns."

At Baker's house, the bedrooms of her and her two daughters are on the side facing the park. Once she realized those were gunshots, she said she dropped to the floor and hollered for her daughters to do the same.

"Everybody basically stayed on the ground until the bullets stopped," Baker recalled, still visibly shaken hours later.

The killings are Hopewell's second and third of the year. That's one more than two years ago and one-third of the city's nine reported homicides last year.

Eleven days ago, a 17-year-old teenager was killed at a trailer park on Oaklawn Boulevard. Police arrested a Richmond man and a Petersburg man in connection with that incident.

"It's very disturbing," Starke said of the overnight shooting. "It's disturbing that we have individuals on our streets that would have no regard for safety of innocent lives. It happened in a residential neighborhood. There were families home asleep ... and to have this type of activity where live rounds are being fired in the street is just totally unacceptable."

The city still is reeling from the Dec. 30, 2022 shooting death of eight-year-old P'aris Mi-Unique Angel Moore. She was gunned down as she played in the front yard of a relative's residence on Freeman Street, not far from the scene of Wednesday's shooting.

Authorities believe the child was the victim of an apparent drive-by shooting. Starke said Wednesday morning that leads are continuing to come in from citizens for that investigation.

The homicides occur as Hopewell is getting ready to take part in the Group Violence Intervention/Operation Ceasefire program. GVI/Ceasefire is nationwide initiative where attempts are made to identify and counsel groups known for criminal activity and reminding them they will be prosecuted if they refuse the intervention and continue to break the law.

More:Hopewell starts process to bring 'Group Violence Intervention' to town as soon as June

More:Delegate, senator want to see 'proven' anti-violence initiative come to Hopewell

Hopewell City Council has a meeting called for Thursday night to further discuss its participation in the program.

Arlington Park, which is owned by the Hopewell Parks & Recreation Department, is often a gathering place for neighborhood events such as July 4 events. Eighteen months ago, one of those Independence Day events was rocked by violence when a man was shot to death after a fight broke out at the park.

Baker,a Maryland native who has lived across from Arlington Park most of her time in Hopewell, remembered that fateful day. Ever since, she said, she has become more cognizant of criminal activity around her neighborhood.

"It's starting to be absolutely crime-ridden," she said. " You never know what's going on unless you're a person in the street.

"Occurrences like this, they literally come out of nowhere," Baker continued. "And I just think that is really sad because a lot of people that's getting hit just like that innocent little girl; she didn't do anything to anybody."

When asked if Wednesday's shooting has made her want to move, Baker did not hesitate in her answer.

"If I could afford to, I'd be gone by tomorrow," she said. "I'd be gone by the end of today, actually."

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: Hopewell's second, third murder victims killed in rolling gun battle