A man is shot outside a Dollar Tree
On the evening of May 9, 2003, a conversation in a Virginia Beach parking lot turned deadly, leaving a family without a loved one and a community with questions that remain unanswered to this day. Andre Heckstall, a 40-year-old African American male, was standing in front of a Dollar Tree in the 600 block of Newtown Road at approximately 5:30 p.m. He was engaged in conversation with another Black male, whose identity remains unknown.
The discussion was abruptly ended by the sound of a gunshot. When police and paramedics arrived at the scene, they found Andre Heckstall bleeding and unconscious. He was quickly transported to a local hospital, but his wound proved to be fatal, and he died a short time later. The state Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound and ruled the manner of death a homicide.
Despite the public nature of the location and the time of day, the suspect seemingly vanished. The Virginia Beach Police Department investigated the homicide, but no arrests have ever been made in connection with the shooting of Andre Heckstall. The case eventually went cold, but it remains an active investigation within the police department's Cold Case Homicide Unit. The identity of the man Andre Heckstall was speaking to at the time of the shooting is still unknown, and he is considered a suspect in the ongoing investigation.
