‘It used to be so quiet here.’ Shootings near ODU over past decade cause alarm among neighbors, authorities.
Killam Avenue, the stretch of road that runs parallel and in between Norfolk’s upper Colley Avenue and Hampton Boulevard, has a troublesome moniker.
Likely best recognized for its proximity to Old Dominion University, with multiple dorms, apartment buildings and houses nearby that serve as home to many students — it’s also become notorious for multiple shootings and criminal activity.
Known by many as “Kill ‘em” street or avenue, the area’s reputation took another hit after a round of gunfire erupted there during a massive house party last weekend. A 19-year-old Norfolk State University nursing student and a 24-year-old Virginia Beach man died. Five others also were shot.
The shooting was one of many near the corridor that have resulted in students and non-students being killed or wounded over the years.
A review found nine shootings The Virginian-Pilot has reported on in the area since 2011. The Pilot limited its search to parts of the off-campus neighborhood where students tend to live: the area bordered between Hampton Boulevard on the west, Colley Avenue on the east, 35th Street on the south, and 51st street on the north. Killam sits in the middle of it all.
Of those nine shootings, six people died and 15 were wounded.
Four of the dead were college students, but only one was from ODU. The others were from The College of William & Mary, Norfolk State and Hampton University. The other two who died were a 26-year-old sailor from Hampton and the Virginia Beach man, 24, killed last weekend.
Two of the deadly incidents — in which an ODU student and a football player from William & Mary were killed — involved drug dealing. The others happened at house parties.
“It used to be so quiet here,” said Helena Fenner, who’s lived in her red brick home on 42nd Street for more than 30 years. The house belonged to her uncle before that.
“About the loudest thing that used to happen around here was when the acorns from that tree over there fell and hit the cars,” Fenner said as she sat in a rocking chair on her front porch next to her husband, Carl Durham. “Now it’s just partying, partying, partying, and people speeding up and down the street.”
The neighborhood
The neighborhood where Fenner lives is called Highland Park. It consists these days of a mix of single family homes, apartment buildings, and some businesses, with families and college students scattered throughout.
Many of the houses have fallen into disrepair. Some have the tell-tale signs of college student occupants, such as a small one-story house with folding chairs on the flat roof out front, and an old couch and party lights on the porch.
Fenner said the trouble started around the time some of the homes were divided into apartments and rented to students.
Former Norfolk City Councilman Andy Protogyrou said it also seemed to coincide with the university’s rapid student population growth. An online report shows ODU expanded from 17,000 students in 1995 to 25,000 now. Students who would have been denied admission were accepted as the university sought to grow its numbers, Protogyrou said.
At a meeting of the Highland Park Civic League on Thursday, a few dozen residents vented their frustrations and discussed ways to deal with the violence. Several members of ODU’s and Norfolk’s police departments attended, as well as Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi and Assistant City Attorney Katherine Taylor.
One resident talked of having guns drawn on him on two separate incidents: once in front of his home, another when he was out walking his dog. A woman who lives and has a business in the neighborhood said clients are afraid.
A single mom with two young children grew emotional as she told how she gathered her kids, headed upstairs and then stood watch with her gun as she waited for last weekend’s gunfire to end.
“It’s just got to stop,” she said, as she wiped away tears.
Interim ODU Police Chief Garrett Shelton, who’s been with the department for seven years, assured the group that his officers — along with Norfolk police — are maintaining a strong presence in the neighborhood, especially on the weekends.
Shelton, who recently dropped off his own daughter at college, said he thinks of the university’s 25,000 students as his own, and strives to do all he can to protect them. The chief told residents Thursday it “pained” him to hear that some hadn’t called about crimes or other problems in the area because they didn’t want to bother the police.
“I don’t care if it’s the same house (where problems are occurring) every night,” Shelton said. “Call us. Call us every time and keep calling. That’s the only way we’re going to know about it if we don’t find it ourselves ... It’s going to take all of us as a community” to do something about it.
During a phone interview with The Pilot, Shelton said the start of the school year is when loud and overcrowded house parties tend to be at their worst, with students celebrating their return and being reunited with friends.
The events often get mentioned on social media, he said, which sometimes leads to dozens of non-students and students from other schools showing up.
Shelton said his officers keep an eye on the parties when they hear about them, or discover them on patrols, but avoid stepping in unless the events become problematic, or if officers see violations.
“It’s a balance between letting students have a good time and not letting things get out of hand,” he said.
In 2016, the department started a program called “party safe” in which students can contact the ODU police to notify them of an upcoming party so officers can watch out for it and be prepared if the event goes awry. The program was suggested by the university’s student government body, Shelton said.
While many question whether students would tip police off to an upcoming party, the chief said there have been many cases of students taking advantage of the program.
“You’d be surprised,” he said. “This isn’t a ‘thank you for letting us know where your party is so we can come shut it down.’ It’s a way we can work together to keep things from getting out of hand.”
Taylor, with the city attorney’s office, said it’s also a good idea for residents to contact her office about problem houses because the information can be used by the city to go after the landlord.
Last weekend’s shooting
The most recent shooting happened around midnight Sept. 4 at the end of Killam Avenue, near 51st Street, where a group of five apartment buildings are clustered together on a well-kept property that borders a creek. The buildings are among the newest in the area, with online records showing they were built in 2015.
The owner of the property — Dietrich Heyder, an ODU graduate who grew up in nearby Larchmont and owns multiple properties near the university — said they were designed to provide a high-quality living space for students, with large study areas and high-end finishes in each unit.
Heyder said the tenants of the house where the shooting happened were away for Labor Day weekend and that someone broke in and threw a party while they were gone. Details about the party were apparently shared online, he said.
“It was a social media-fueled flash mob,” Heyder said. “It looks like every one of them had a gun because once the shooting started, bullets were flying everywhere.”
Tevin Bretton, 26, an aviation school student who lives in the building next to where the shooting broke out, said he was driving up at about 11 p.m. when he saw cars parked all over and an overflow crowd next door.
After going inside for a while, Bretton said he was heading back out when he heard someone trying to calm another person.
“They were trying to de-escalate the situation,” Bretton said. “They were saying, ‘Chill out. Chill out.’ Then the shooting started.”
The gunfire seemed to go on for about 10 minutes, he said, with a brief break. It also sounded like people were returning fire.
Bretton said when he looked outside, he saw a man on the ground who’d been shot in the head. Another man, apparently a friend, was trying to resuscitate him. The crowd quickly scattered, he said, with some jumping from a second-floor balcony.
Marcus Wilson, 22, an ODU junior who lives in the same building as Bretton, said he was away for the weekend. He learned about the shooting through an email sent by the university.
“It (the email) said it happened in the 5000 block of Killam Avenue,” Wilson said. “And I was like, wait, I live in the 5000 block of Killam.”
Wilson then got a text from one of his friends letting him know his Toyota Prius, which was parked in front of his building, had been hit by multiple bullets.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “I mean, there are kids that live all around here and play here.”
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
