The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Police are seeking a man this morning on warrants charging him with the killing of another man in the Waterside parking garage Sunday morning, the second homicide in the downtown area in three days.
Police on Sunday night identified the suspect as Reginald E. Royals Jr., 24, of the 6300 block of Ardsley Square in Virginia Beach.
Police identified the man killed as Juan Carlos Ovalle-Peralta, 26, of Fairview Street in Chesapeake. A second man was injured.
"My initial thought this morning was... 'Are we not living in a safe environment?' " said Kevin R. Murphy, the president of the Downtown Norfolk Civic League and a downtown resident on Sunday. "At the end of the day, I'm really impressed with the work of the Norfolk police."
Royals was charged with murder, malicious wounding and two counts of use or display of a firearm in the commission of a felony, Amos said. Police did not release his photo because they were still showing it in lineups and did not want anyone to see the picture in media coverage Sunday.
About 2 a.m., Norfolk police were called to the fourth floor of the garage across Waterside Drive from the entertainment complex. Officers found the two victims, one already dead, said Officer Chris Amos, a police spokesman. The second was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital for treatment.
Police said a minor car crash occurred inside the garage, which resulted in a confrontation between the two victims and three people in another vehicle, all of whom were later arrested. The fight escalated when shots were fired.
The three were trying to leave the garage when officers arrived, police said. Police charged only Royals.
Police did not release the name of the injured victim.
Brian Carter, 24, of Suffolk died Thursday after he was shot downtown during an apparent robbery at about 12:30 a.m. He was shot in a parked car in the 100 block of Bank St.
One of the robbery suspects, Marlon D. Sanders, 19, was then shot and killed by a Norfolk police bike patrol officer on Plume Street after he fired a gun at the officer, police said. The officer was near the robbery and heard the gunshots, police said.
Another suspect in the shooting of Carter, Brighton E. Alderman, 18, was arrested and charged with murder and related charges.
Murphy said he's glad the Norfolk police put officers inside some downtown parking garages on Friday and Saturday nights.
He also said the Waterside shooting reaffirms the downtown council's desire to get surveillance cameras in parking garages.
"For two-plus years we've been trying to get the city to put surveillance cameras in the garages," he said.
Safety there, he said, is growing more important because many downtown residents park their vehicles overnight in parking garages.
Pilot writer Lauren King contributed to this report.
Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com
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It's tea time!
philipt43623 wrote, "Proud Native - please seek professional help."
No way! Many psychiatrists have tried to do what you suggest, and ALL have failed. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, so I'm never going to a head doctor, again!
It's your thought patterns that need changing. Unlike you, I am keeping up with the times. You probably still believe in tired old concepts like accepting personal responsibility, and performing parental duties. That stuff went out of style years ago. I'm keeping up with modern times by expecting cops and teachers to raise my children, and blaming them for everything that goes wrong. Now that I've drank the left-wing Kool-aid, I'm so cool, I don't need ice in my tea anymore!
Speaking of tea, when is Hampton Roads going to have its own tea party? Let's roll!
Keep this up
and downtown will be back to a ghost town in less than 5 years. I agree most of the drunks are concentrated in one area, Norfolk planned it this way, they have closed down every other club in Norfolk that isnt a gay club. They got what they wanted, its easier to monitor/catch all the drunks if you know where they all are.
it's revenue
The reason downtown has a disproportionate police presence is because downtown is a revenue-producing part of the city. Norfolk has been encouraging developers to invest in downtown for a long time and is merely protecting its investment. Especially in such difficult economic times the city needs to be judicious in how it allocates its resources. If merchants and potential customers believe downtown is unsafe people will stop going. Norfolk has a fiduciary interest in protecting Waterside, the MacArthur Center and all points between.
I'm pretty sure there are more police officers downtown than there are in West Ghent, Larchmont, Edgewater, etc. It's not class. It's economics.
Nightlife
I rarely visit Waterside. If I want to party all the way I do it in Vegas. The nightlife there rocks and everyone should visit that city. The airfare is cheap to Las Vegas. However if you want to go someplace closer outside from Hampton Roads my other bet is in Washington, D.C. were the nightlife is so classy. Here is a guide @ DCNITES.COM
Man up
How about you man up and be responsible for yourself!
Take care of you and your family's safety instead of relying on someone else to take care of you!
It is not the responsibility of the PD to be your babysitter! Notice they showed up after the fact. GREAT that the BG is caught! Thank god he is off the streets! The cameras are a great witness, but only if you spend the money and buy decent equipment. We all have seen the grainy, blurred pictures from the ATM or 7-11's. It is a miracle that anyone gets caught from using those pictures!
Be proud of where you live....Tidewater and man up. Be responsible for you and your family! Band together and take back your community!
Pop Goes the Weasal!!!
Thank God for the Norfolk Police - they caught the bad guys.
Get off your high horses - those garages are private property and it is the owner’s responsibility to install cameras or not.
If you don't want to be around drunks then stay out of bars. Here is your sign.
Please use spell check so you don't prove yourself stupid.
Proud Native - please seek professional help.
It's class
I can only come to one conclusion to why this murder is getting so much media coverage, and that is Downtown Norfolk. Every other murder in the city didn't get as much coverage, with the exception of the young man Charles Humphrey, who was a Maury High School student. Every life is important and needs to have the same measure of coverage. Is the city liable for the number of murders that has taken place on the city's streets within the past few years? How many has there been, a few hundred maybe? Only downtown deserves extra cops and cameras for protection? Everyone in the city wants to be safe. We all in Colonial Place, Youngs Terrace, Larchmont, Tidewater Gardens, Lakewood, Diggstown, Lafayette Shores, Huntersville, East Oceanview, Norview, Lambert's Point, Ingleside, and every other neighborhood not mentioned wants to be Safe!. Let's not just protect the upper class. The upper class think that they can buy their protection, not realizing that it their very class that makes them a target for crime. I hope that no one loses their life because life is precious.
Unbelievable..
So the monitors are now pulling posts that ask what the demographics of the criminals are who committed these crimes? Unbelievable! How petty can it get?
second that jay D
Virginia Beach don't act like your city is not a bastion for criminal activity as referenced by Jay D. Also, this was a VIRGINIA BEACH man killing a CHESAPEAKE man. Keep your criminal out of OUR city, we have enough.
Well, I'm still proud to
Well, I'm still proud to live in Norfolk. I don't go downtown much only because I have no need to. I would feel safer than most other lively downtowns.