‘Whoever was shooting, was shooting to kill.’ Woman dead after gunfire erupts off W. Little Creek Road in Norfolk

An quiet afternoon turned deadly Tuesday when gunfire broke out in front of an apartment complex, leaving a 20-year-old woman dead.

Crime scene tape encircled a two-block frontage of W. Little Creek Road as it stretched from the corner of Dunfield Place to Major Avenue and on to Enfield Avenue. Bullet casings waiting to be collected littered the ground, denoted by police evidence markers.

Norfolk police responded to the reported shooting around 4:10 p.m. in the 1400 block of W. Little Creek Road, near Parkwood Manor Apartments. At the scene, police pronounced Stariyana L. Patterson dead from a gunshot wound as she lie at the entrance of an apartment building.

A neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was in her kitchen when she heard yelling outside.

“I thought it was kids or teenagers playing or something,” she said. She was just about to peek out her front window when the shots rang out.

“It was like 10 loud pops, and then 10 more loud pops,” she said. “I did not recognize the sound at first — I have only heard guns in movies. But when I realized what it was, all I could think was that whoever was shooting, was shooting to kill.”

The neighbor said when the gunshots stopped, she heard a girl screaming, calling for help. In front of the Parkwood Manor Apartment, she saw a girl cradling Patterson and rocking back and forth.

Another resident who was one of the first on scene said he had just returned home from work when he heard the shooting.

“It was like ‘bang, bang, bang’ eight to 10 times and then a pause, then eight or 10 more shots in return,” said Tom, who did not give his last name. “It was shots being fired and returned.”

Tom said moments later, emergency medical services arrived, and he rushed out to help.

“It all happened so quick. Medics arrived really fast — I guess they were just down the street — but when I saw her, the girl that was shot, I knew she was dead,” Tom said.

The neighborhood, both residents said, is usually quiet, only being disrupted by traffic accidents along the busy roadway.

As the sun began to set on the crime scene, police began to tear down the tape as they wrapped up their on-scene investigation.

While multiple neighbors said they witnessed officers handcuffing two individuals and putting them in police cruisers, authorities have not announced any arrests or suspect information.

Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi, who was on scene, said when arrests are made for violent crimes such as the fatal Parkwood Manor Apartments shooting, his office “will hold them accountable.”

“I said it yesterday in Huntersville and I will say it here today. You do not need to introduce a gun into disagreements,” Fatehi said. “No disagreement is worth killing anybody. The gunfire just has to stop.”

Caitlyn Burchett, 727-267-6059, caitlyn.burchett@virigniamedia.com