By Kristin Davis, Lauren King and Matthew Bowers
Virginian-Pilot
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A city police officer was shot Monday afternoon as he and other officers tried to corner a vehicle that ran from police in Norfolk earlier in the day.
All suspects were arrested after an intense search by dozens of officers from several agencies who fanned out across the Deep Creek area. A Portsmouth officer found one suspect hiding under a pile of brush.
Officers with guns drawn searched the grounds around Deep Creek Middle School as people nearby locked themselves in and a youth-league baseball team took cover in a concession stand.
The wounded officer was flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he underwent surgery, said Chesapeake police spokeswoman Dorienne Boykin. He was in stable condition Monday night. His name was not released.
Outside the hospital’s emergency entrance, two Norfolk policemen directed arriving officers -- some wearing civilian clothes and flashing badges from personal vehicles -- to a waiting area inside.
Boykin called the officer’s survival “such a blessing.”
Chesapeake police were pursuing a vehicle believed to be involved in an abduction in Norfolk when the suspects crashed on a ramp from U.S. 17 to I-64 near Trade Street around 4:15 p.m.
The suspects got out of the vehicle and began firing , Boykin said. Police returned fire, striking two people. She did not release the total number of suspects or the conditions of those injured.
Norfolk police said late Monday that a call to emergency dispatchers sometime before 4:30 p.m. reported an abduction by gunpoint in the 900 block of Liberty St. Norfolk police issued an alert for police in neighboring cities to watch for a white vehicle. Karen Parker-Chesson, a Norfolk police spokeswoman, said there was an attempt to make a traffic stop, but would offer no other details.
The shootout took place at a busy intersection near rush hour, so a large number of people either saw or heard it . Dave Watkins, who lives on Cedar Road in Chesapeake, said he was driving home from work on U.S. 17 after 4 p.m. when police cars passed him on both sides. The car in front of him slammed on brakes past Trade Street and suddenly began backing up . Watkins said he heard a series of gunshots about 10 cars up ahead. He got out of his tan Mazda and hid behind it.
“It was like it was unreal,” he said.
Some of the shots were extremely loud, Watkins said, and the others sounded like they came from a handgun.
Watkins then saw police officers drag out an officer by his collar. The uniformed officer appeared to be injured, he said. He said he heard emergency-medical workers say the officer had been shot at least twice in the stomach.
Authorities did not say what kind of weapon was used, but they warned helicopters hovering overhead that they believed the suspects had a high-powered rifle.
Watkins said he did not see the shooter.
Watkins eventually was sent away and stood at the intersection of U.S. 17 and Trade Street, where he waited for more than two hours to return to his car. Dozens of rescue workers and law enforcement officers, including the State Police, converged on the scene . Police in protective gear toted guns as they walked the area.
Michael Ray Vaughan, owner of Princess Anne Pile and Lumber in the 2700 block of Trade St. , said he generally closes his business around 4 p.m. It was shortly after that when he began to hear shots.
“If I had to guess, I would say there were 40 to 50 rounds of shots fired,” he said. “You could tell it was the altercation type of shots. There were several shots fired and then they stopped and then a whole bunch of shots fired again. You could tell it was gunfire right away and not kids playing with firecrackers.”
Vaughan said one of his drivers who was near Exit 296 on I-64 saw several vehicles on the ramp with windows that had been shot out.
Vaughan watched a medical helicopter swoop into a Food Lion parking lot on Yadkin Road and within minutes transport who he believed was the wounded officer to the hospital.
“I went and got my pistol out and it’s lying here on my desk,” he said. Around the same time , Roger Meads was listening to gospel music and choosing the songs for Sunday’s service in his office at Bible World Church on Happy Acres Road.
He heard gunfire near the interstate about 200 yards away from the church. Meads, the worship pastor, looked out the window and saw Chesapeake police hurrying around George Washington Highway.
His view was partially blocked , but Meads said he heard at least three sets of eight shots. “It sounded like a semi-automatic,” he said . The fight didn’t last long, he said.
At Deep Creek Middle School, police in bulletproof vests walked the grounds with guns drawn. A police helicopter circled the scene.
Lt. Lokie Flythe of the Portsmouth Sheriff’s Office was on his way home with his K-9 partner of two years, Tyger, when he heard about the incident and offered their help to Chesapeake police, said Lt. Karin Johnson, sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
They found one suspect hiding under debris in the backyard of a house near the interstate and George Washington Highway, and apprehended him without incident, she said. Flythe declined to elaborate , saying he didn’t want to interfere with Chesapeake’s investigation.
The Virginia Department of Transportation had closed I-64 East at the High Rise Bridge and I-64 West at George Washington Highway at the request of police, but both sides of I-64 reopened about 6:30 p.m. The northbound ramp from George Washington to I-64 was closed overnight, but has reopened this morning.
A short time later, Chesapeake police announced that all the suspects were in custody. Boykin, the spokeswoman, did not release any other information or take questions.
Copyright 2009 Virginian-Pilot