A male victim was injured by gunfire in the 100 block of 14th Street early Sunday morning and was transported to the University of Virginia Medical Center for the treatment, according to a city police release.
The city release puts the time of the shooting at 2:20 a.m. Sunday. People in the area say that the gunfire was a single shot that transpired after a car pulled up while a fight was occurring outside of Christian’s Pizza.
Haven Higgins, a manager at the restaurant next door, Boylan Heights, said she heard the shot and later reviewed her restaurant’s surveillance footage to see if it would show what happened. The footage merely shows the edges of a crowd, Higgins said.
"Once the shot goes out, you can see everyone disperse," said Higgins.
Police have not identified the victim or indicated whether they have a suspect. They said only that police presence in the area would increase.
Shortly after noon Sunday, at the time of a reporter’s visit, police were not visible, and a private security guard professed no awareness that a shooting had occurred. However, patches of dried blood on the sidewalk outside of the Seven Day Jr. convenience store showed where the victim was loaded onto a gurney for transportation to the medical center.
With a cluster of bars, restaurants, hair salons, and other retailers oriented to University of Virginia students, this block of 14th Street terminates at University Avenue under the former C&O train tracks and is widely considered part of the Corner district. Late nights often witness large gatherings of local citizens in addition to the students.
In 2003 this was the location where a third-year UVa student named Andrew R. Alston stabbed 22-year-old Western Albemarle native Walker A. Sisk 18 times after an argument between the two men, who were strangers. Sisk, a firefighter died of his injuries; Alston served three years for manslaughter.
This fall Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle County have experienced what appears to be a spike in gun violence. Not including a recent self-inflicted injury on West Main Street or the person reportedly struck by a car when fleeing an Albemarle apartment parking lot shooting, the number of people injured from gun violence from September to today now stands at 13, with about half of them juveniles. In the same period, the number of people killed by gunfire stands at six, including the Nov. 13 mass shooting at the University of Virginia that claimed the lives of three popular student-athletes.
FBI data show that since 2011, Charlottesville and Albemarle average four homicides annually across the multi-jurisdictional area.
Albemarle has experienced relatively tranquil leadership transfers in its police department, but Charlottesville has not had a permanent police chief since September, 2021, when a prior city manager fired RaShall Brackney. Earlier this month, however, City Council approved the hiring a new chief. Michael Kochis, most recently the chief of police for the town of Warrenton, takes over in Charlottesville on Jan. 16, 2023.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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