The Virginian-Pilot
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NORFOLK
Alton R. Copeland ran a small janitorial service and planned to take business classes at Tidewater Community College to help grow it, his wife said.
"He was real inspiring," Meme Copeland said Monday before dissolving into tears. "If you wanted to go to school to be a nurse, he wanted you to go to school to be a doctor."
Copeland, 25, was one of three people shot shortly before midnight Saturday at a house in the 2700 block of Vincent Ave. in Ballentine Place. Police said he lived on Dunkirk Avenue.
Copeland and Ricardo Lee Spencer, 30, of Norvella Avenue, were pronounced dead at the scene. Each died from a gunshot wound to the chest, the medical examiner's office reported.
A juvenile, whom police didn't further identify, was in good condition Monday at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, said Karen Parker-Chesson, police spokeswoman.
Police have not identified any suspects and said they were still investigating a motive.
A search warrant filed in Circuit Court sought permission to look inside the house for evidence, including firearms. The first officer on the scene saw people running into the house and possibly out the back, the warrant said.
Before the weekend slayings, police had reported that as of May 3 there had been 18 killings this year in Norfolk, twice as many as the same period last year. Two more deaths were police shootings that were ruled justified.
Meme Copeland said her husband's family will be "devastated." He had two children and she had five from previous relationships. He talked to neighborhood children about doing the right things, she said.
She and her husband were married for a year and a half.
"I can't believe this happened," she said.
Police asked anyone with information about the triple shooting to call Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (562-5887).
Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com
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