Norfolk man arrested over Virginia Beach killing 5 years ago

VIRGINIA BEACH

Police have arrested a Norfolk man on charges that he robbed and fatally shot a drifter staying at a Virginia Beach hotel five years ago.

Steven Lamar Jackson, 29, of the 1000 block of Berkley Avenue, was arrested Monday night, police spokeswoman Margie Long said. She said Jackson was booked into the Virginia Beach Correctional Center on charges of murder, robbery, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,

Jackson is suspected of shooting Charles Barnes, 36, a New Yorker who had lived in various places in North Carolina and Virginia before his death on Oct. 8, 2003, Long said.

Investigators say they think Barnes was standing in the doorway of his room at the InTown Suites, in the 400 block of S. Independence Blvd., about 8:40 p.m. when he was robbed and then shot after a brief argument.

After the shooting, police said, two men ran from the scene to a Nissan sedan, where a third man was waiting for them.

Two other suspects have been identified, but investigators have not charged them, Long said.

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com