NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Three women were killed and two were injured in the Young Terrace neighborhood in Norfolk Wednesday night in what police are calling a mass shooting.
Police Chief Larry Boone said that five women were shot and three of them died. They were identified as 42-year-old Detra R. Brown, of Suffolk, 45-year-old Nicole Lovewine, of Norfolk, and 44-year-old Sara E. Costine, of Lithonia, Georgia.
The two injured women, a 39-year-old and 19-year-old, were taken to the hospital and are expected to recover. On Thursday afternoon, Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander said one of the victims had been released from the hospital.
Police said the man who shot the women had been taken into custody. He was identified on Thursday morning as 19-year-old Ziontay Brian Ricardo Palmer, of Virginia Beach.
He was arraigned in Norfolk General District Court Thursday morning on three counts of second-degree murder, one count of malicious wounding and four counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Palmer is being held in jail without bond.
According to police, the shooting happened around 6 p.m. Wednesday in the 800 block of Whitaker Lane.
A preliminary investigation revealed that Palmer shot the 19-year-old woman first, then shot the four other women as they tried to help her, Boone said.
WAVY reports that Palmer had a relationship with the 19-year-old woman.