Man wanted in Norfolk killing shot himself while in Lyft rideshare, police say

A man wanted in the killing of his brother in Norfolk earlier this week week died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound early Thursday while taking a Lyft rideshare in Hampton.

Taquan Harper, 27, of Portsmouth, was being sought on second-degree murder and gun charges in the death of his brother, 24-year-old Frankie Bland.

Bland was found with life-threatening gunshot wounds at about 10:20 p.m. Tuesday in a house on Remsen Street in Norfolk, and died at the hospital later that night.

Norfolk police issued warrants for his brother’s arrest.

But at 9:05 a.m. Thursday, the Hampton Police Division got a 911 call from a Lyft driver who was driving Harper down Greenbriar Avenue, west of Victoria Boulevard in the Wythe section of that city.

The driver reported that his passenger had shot himself while the car was en route, said Hampton Police Sgt. Reggie Williams. That triggered a large response to the area by investigators, according to neighbors who live in the area.

“The man responsible for the homicide on Remsen Street has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the Norfolk Police Department said in a news release issued Friday.

Williams said he couldn’t disclose where the Lyft driver had been taking Harper.

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com