‘We had women that stepped up’: Norfolk community rallies for healing after tragedy

Norfolk — It started with a prayer.

One asking that the group wouldn’t have to meet again because of a tragedy like the shooting Wednesday in Norfolk’s Young Terrace neighborhood. It was a prayer for unity — a cry for healing.

More than 30 people gathered Saturday afternoon in front of Young Terrace Community Center to render healing and find solutions after a shooting killed three women and injured another two.

“We cannot continue to let tragedy strike Norfolk again,” said Nicole Sanders, who recently ran for commissioner of the revenue and spoke at the gathering.

A string of speakers, including Mayor Kenny Alexander, spoke to the crowd as it huddled together in the rain. Many called on the community to come together and help youth and families affected by gun and domestic violence.

Muhammad Bilal, left, the event organizer, speaks with attendees at the community outreach event held near the Young Terrace Community Center on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021 in Norfolk. (Mike Caudill / The Virginian-Pilot)

“We have to show the community that this is a major problem that we are losing the future of our children,” said Muhammad Bilal, who organized the gathering. And it wasn’t the first time he’s had to host events after senseless violence.

Bilal is part of a community coalition with nonprofit organizations — Stop The Violence 757, Stop The Violence Guns Down and Community of United Focus — that hosts monthly events to reduce violence in Hampton Roads. He left a coalition event Wednesday evening when he heard about the shooting. Shortly after he arrived at the scene, he said he began planning to come back to support the neighborhood’s residents.

For many people, Bilal said, experiencing a shooting in their community is not unusual. But the tragedy shouldn’t be normalized.

[ About a dozen children were playing outside, some jumping on a trampoline. That’s when the shooting started. ]

Three women — Nicole Lovewine, 45; Detra Brown, 42, and Sara Costine, 44 — died Wednesday evening after a “domestic-related” shooting. Two other women, ages 19 and 39, were injured and taken to a local hospital.

Police arrested 19-year-old Ziontay Brian Ricardo Palmer roughly four hours later.

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“We had women that stepped up,” Sanders said as other speakers called for more protections for women.

Sanders lives in Norfolk’s Coleman Place neighborhood, but said she felt the impact of Wednesday’s shooting because it happened in her community.

A couple blocks away, family members and friends tied bundles of purple and silver star-shaped balloons to a fence lining the apartments in front of Lovewine’s home Friday evening at a candlelight vigil.

“That man, he put a stain on this family that can never be washed — he hurt us to the core,” Tina McPherson, Lovewine’s sister, said.

The crowd gathered Saturday to find solutions. Many of the speakers said they’ve grown tired of empty promises.

“Our children are dying — our mothers are dying,” Sanders said. And the time has come for action, she said.

Sierra Jenkins, 229-462-8896, sierra.jenkins@virginiamedia.com