Suffolk store owner kills suspect in burglary, police say

SUFFOLK

Police are questioning a store owner who they say shot and killed a man he believed was burglarizing his store in Whaleyville. 

Police received a call just after 4 a.m. Sunday about a burglary in progress at J-N-L Market, located at 6550 Whaleyville Boulevard, said Suffolk spokeswoman Debbie George.

The owner was also alerted to the burglary, George said, and went to his store with a firearm. When he arrived, he saw someone inside his business and fired at him through a store window, she said.

When police arrived, they found the owner of the business outside and the burglary suspect lying on the floor, dead.

Police interviewed the store owner at the police department, but he has not been charged and has since left the police station, George said. The shooting remains under investigation.

“A case like this is very complex and they’ll review all of the facts and circumstances” before making a decision about whether to charge the owner, George said. She said she did not know whether the man who was in the store was carrying a weapon.

Police are not releasing the owner's identity because he has not been charged with anything, she said. Police identified the man killed in the shooting as Ernest Roop, 38, of the 5500 block of Weatherby Way in Suffolk.