In the late hours of a January night in Portsmouth, Virginia, the life of 36-year-old Brent Andre Hargraves, an African American male, was tragically cut short. On January 6, 2025, police responded to reports of a shooting and a car crash in the 10 block of Calvin Street. Arriving at the scene around 11:20 p.m., they found Hargraves unresponsive inside his vehicle, which had crashed.
He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The death of Hargraves, a father to a young child, sent ripples of grief through his family and the community. His great-uncle, a prominent local anti-violence activist who had tragically lost his own son to gun violence in 2023, spoke of the family's devastation. He had spent time with Hargraves and his son just days before the shooting, making the loss even more profound. The family pleaded with the public for any information that could lead to justice for Brent.
In the months that followed, the Portsmouth Police Department diligently investigated the homicide. Their efforts led them to identify a person of interest they wished to question in connection with the shooting: 24-year-old Keonte Deshawn Knight. While police publicly named Knight as a person of interest, he was not charged with any crime related to Hargraves' death.
As the year drew to a close, Brent Hargraves' killer remained at large. His family continued to mourn their loss, visiting the site of his death, which had become a makeshift memorial. They expressed their frustration with the lack of progress in the investigation and continued to appeal to the community for any information that could help identify and apprehend the individual responsible for his death. The case remains an active and open investigation.
