:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/375SBU4XHNGHVENYAZCMR5Z6QE.jpg)
Chesapeake — A Norfolk police officer who shot and killed a schizophrenic man while off duty in Chesapeake earlier this year was arrested Thursday and charged with voluntary manslaughter.
Edmund Hoyt, 34, turned himself in Thursday at the Chesapeake City Jail and is being held without bond in the January death of 42-year-old Kelvin Dwayne White. Hoyt was charged at the direction of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, police wrote in a news release.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/KMF33Q6Z7BDRPFVQYLXBMRQNZY.jpg)
Since 2010, this is the seventh time out of 166 fatal shootings that a Virginia police officer has been charged in a killing, according to a database compiled by The Virginian-Pilot and updated using Washington Post data. It’s possible some cases are missing from the data, since there is no statewide or national tracking of shootings by police. Five of those times, officers have been convicted of or pleaded to manslaughter. In another case, a Norfolk officer was acquitted of manslaughter in a 2014 killing.
White, who was called “KD” by family and friends, was shot in the afternoon Jan. 19 about a third of a mile from where he lived in the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake. Residents nearby and Chesapeake officers who patrol the area knew White and would frequently see him walking and talking to himself, his family told The Virginian-Pilot at the time. He often walked to a Food Lion and 7-Eleven.
Hoyt drove to the 2600 block of Bainbridge Boulevard that day after a family member called him and said a man had threatened them with a weapon, police said. Chesapeake prosecutors identified the family member as Hoyt’s wife.
Hoyt was not in uniform when he confronted White, according to police. “A physical confrontation began,” and the off-duty officer shot White, police said. He died at a hospital.
Hoyt is white. Kelvin White is Black.
Police said an initial investigation found both men were armed, but did not specify with what White is alleged to have been armed.
Voluntary manslaughter is a felony and carries up to 10 years in prison. As a common-law offense, it’s not defined in state code, but Virginia courts have generally defined it as an intentional killing but one committed without malice, either in the heat of passion or during a fight.
At the time of the shooting, White’s family said he wasn’t known to be violent or carry a pocketknife, and said they believe he would have complied with police if he knew the person was an officer.
His family said he was struck multiple times.
Breaking News
“There were several gunshots,” Khiera Williams, the mother of White’s three children, said in January. “That’s excessive force.”
White was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his mid-30s, his family said. He once had a plastering business and had been living with him mother in South Norfolk.
Hoyt remains employed with the Norfolk Police Department. He has been on administrative duty since the shooting, according to police spokesman Sgt. William Pickering Jr. It was not immediately clear Thursday if Hoyt had retained a lawyer.
In a written statement, Chesapeake Commonwealth’s Attorney Nancy Parr said she reviewed and discussed the evidence with the detective and Police Chief Kelvin Wright. Citing the Virginia State Bar rules of professional conduct, she declined to release addition information about the evidence.
“This is a criminal investigation and now a prosecution,” Parr wrote. “… This case will be tried in the courtroom and not in the media. All parties will receive a fair and impartial trial.”
Staff writer Gary Harki contributed to this report.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com