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The Virginia State Police took over the investigation of the officer-involved shooting at the Oceanfront last weekend that resulted in the death of 25-year-old Donovon Lynch.
In a City Council meeting Tuesday, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said he requested the move.
“We have heard the community’s call for an outside investigation and we agree,” Neudigate said during special meeting, called by three council members to discuss the shootings.
Neudigate said the community is clamoring for and independent investigation and that’s what they deserve.
“Let us turn it over the Virginia State Police, let them put fresh eyes on it, look at it from a different perspective,” he said. “Then take it to the commonwealth’s attorney, and present the facts of the entirety of the incident, and let the chips fall where they fall.”
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Sgt. Michelle Anaya, a Virginia State Police spokesperson, confirmed the agency’s Chesapeake field office assumed control of the case Monday night but declined to provide any other details.
“Since this is a criminal investigation, there is no information that can be provided at this time,” she wrote in an email. “Once the investigation is concluded, all reports and findings will be provided to the Commonwealth Attorney as in all officer involved shootings.”
Ten people were shot in what police have described as three shootings that occurred in the same vicinity at the Oceanfront late Friday night.
Two of them were killed — Lynch and 29-year-old Norfolk resident Deshayla Harris, whom police described as an innocent bystander.
In the shooting that left Lynch dead, police initially reported that Lynch was an “armed citizen,” but at a press conference Saturday night, Neudigate said there was no evidence that a gun found “in the vicinity” of the shooting was Lynch’s.
On Monday, police reversed course again, saying that Lynch “was brandishing a handgun at the time of the shooting,” according to their interviews with the officer who shot Lynch and another officer who witnessed the shooting.
Police said an independent witness said in an interview that Lynch had a gun earlier that night. During Tuesday’s meeting, Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten said Lynch had a license to carry a concealed weapon, but she did not disclose how she knew that information.
Neudigate said the officer who shot Lynch did not have his body camera activated and investigators did not know why.
Per department policy, police officers are required to activate body-worn cameras immediately upon arriving at a shooting scene. Failing to activate a body-worn camera can lead to termination, Neudigate said.
During his 32 years of experience in law enforcement, Neudigate said this is the first time he has investigated an officer-involved shooting without video evidence of the killing. He said he usually would release information, including the video, to the public within 36 hours after the shooting.
“This is the first time that I have encountered a situation where we have no body worn camera footage, we have no independent video footage, we have had no immediate independent witnesses and we did not have a more timely statement from involved parties,” Neudigate said. “So as much as we want to be transparent to our community, and they deserve it, it is hard to be transparent when we have very little information to guide our response and our investigation.”
The officer is a five-year veteran of the department assigned to the special operations division, police have said, and is on administrative assignment during the investigation.
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Neudigate said the officer did not have a gun holster that would automatically activate his body-worn camera. He said the department had ordered holsters that do, but they are on back order due to high demand. He said he did not know why the officer did not record the incident.
“While there are many law enforcement and civilian witnesses to interview and footage from cameras to examine, the fact that the camera worn by the officer who shot Mr. Lynch was not activated is a serious problem,” City Manager Patrick Duhaney said. “We have already taken steps to procure the technology needed to ensure that cameras automatically turn on when an officer removes their firearm from its holster.”
A detective in plain clothes witnessed the shooting, but was not wearing a body camera, Neudigate said. The department does not require investigative detectives to wear body cameras and Neudigate said he doesn’t think they should due to the sensitive nature of their work. Police are requesting camera footage from private businesses in the area and reviewing all city-owned cameras to determine if any captured the shooting of Lynch.
Neudigate said the community has criticized the department for not interviewing the police officer involved immediately after the shooting. He said the city could not compel the officer to give a statement because it would make that evidence inadmissible in court. He said the Fifth Amendment protects the officer from being a witness against himself in an investigation that may result in criminal prosecution.
After obtaining legal counsel, Neudigate said the officer who shot Lynch gave a voluntary statement on Monday afternoon.
At the completion of the criminal investigation, the police department will begin an administrative investigation to determine if the officer was compliant with the city’s policies and procedures, Neudigate said.
Alissa Skelton, 757-995-9043, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com.