VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — In about 20 hours Monday, three shootings in Virginia Beach injured six people, but they are not all victims, according to Police Chief Paul Neudigate, who also indicated that two of the three shootings have “some” connection.

“I am not going to call all six victims,” Neudigate said, “because we do believe some of the individuals who were shot were engaged in felonious activity at the time of the shootings.” 

The first of the three shootings happened in the 200 block of S. Budding Ave. just after 2:30 a.m., in which a 17-year-old boy was shot.

“We know with the first incident there was a shot fired into the residence where we did have a male 17 years old that was struck by a projectile, and he is in critical condition,” Neudigate said.

Less than a mile away and 18 hours later, at around 8:30 p.m., two young men were shot on Sassafras Court and suffered serious injuries. Neudigate said the two shootings adjacent to one another appear to be connected.

“There was a robbery, and two individuals exchanged gunfire during that robbery,” Neudigate said about the shooting on Sassafras Court. “They were both critically wounded we do believe there is some connection between the first two incidents.”

Around 9:17 p.m., two men and a woman were injured in a shooting in the 4700 block of Haygood Road, with police saying the two men had suffered serious injuries, while the woman was expected to be OK. There was also blood on the front doorstep and up the sidewalk.

(WAVY viewer photos – Evan Kinnear)

“Those three individuals were known to each other,” Neudigate said. “They were together at some type of event when guns were brought into play along with alcohol, and two men and a woman were shot.”

According to a search warrant posted on the door to a house on Haygood Road, police responded to the house that someone had been shot, and when they got there, they found a man and a woman outside the house who had both been shot. The search warrant also states the woman told a detective she communicated earlier in the day with the person who shot her.

A trail of blood led to another victim down the sidewalk from the home, and all three victims in the Haygood Road shooting were taken to the hospital.

The search warrant indicated that police found a firearm, casings and cell phones.

Preliminary investigation identified one of the people injured, 36-year-old Eugene Martin as a suspect.

Martin was then charged with two counts of aggravated malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, shooting into an occupied dwelling, discharging a firearm in public, possession of a firearm while distributing or possessing with intent to distribute a Schedule I or II controlled substance, and possession of a Schedule I or II substance with intent to distribute. 

A neighbor spoke with 10 On Your Side’s Deja Parker about the incident.

“Just before I heard all the sirens started blaring, I heard multiple gunshots and I couldn’t tell exactly where it was from, but it was very close by,” she said.

Gabrielle Davidson, walking with her daughter, said she was concerned.

“It doesn’t make me feel as confident that peace is reigning through and through,” Davidson said.  “I do believe in God, so I do pray for safety and all that. I pray peace does reign more and more”  

10 On Your Side spoke with the father of the woman who was shot while he was cleaning up the house, and with him was the woman’s brother-in-law. The father, Emmanuel Gibbs, said he also lives in the house.

“I believe the man found shot on the sidewalk was the shooter,” Gibbs said. “He is the one who did the shooting, and the man who came to help her was the one who fired back at him.” 

In an update to Virginia Beach City Council on Tuesday afternoon, Neudigate said the “cluster” of shootings comes as overall shootings are down 31% based on the same time last year.

He stated he thinks all people responsible for the three shootings have been apprehended.

“We don’t think there are any outstanding suspects,” Neudigate said. “We think we have identified all involved, and we have in custody everyone that is involved in these three incidents.”