A man is murdered while driving his car In the midst of rush-hour traffic on April 24, 1995, the bustling Downtown Tunnel connecting Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia, became the scene of a shocking crime. Inside a dark green 1992 Lexus, 22-year-old Garner D. Efraim, a Black male, was shot and killed while at the wheel. The sudden violence brought his vehicle to an abrupt halt, causing chaos and horror as dozens of drivers witnessed the immediate aftermath.
Two other men who were in the car with Efraim leaped out and fled on foot, disappearing into the city of Portsmouth. First responders found Efraim deceased in the driver's seat from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
Investigators quickly began piecing together the events of that chaotic day. They had images of the two fleeing suspects captured by eleven video cameras in the tunnel, but the quality of the footage proved to be poor. A significant lead emerged when one of the two men who fled was found dead a few days after Efraim's murder, reportedly having sustained a gunshot wound to the face during the incident in the tunnel. This development, however, did not immediately lead to a resolution of the case.
A week after the shooting, police arrested 19-year-old Shawnta Ward in connection with Efraim's death. He faced serious charges, including capital murder, armed robbery, and abduction. The case against him, however, soon unraveled. When a key witness failed to appear in court to testify, prosecutors were forced to dismiss all charges against Ward, and he was released from custody. The murder weapon was never recovered, and other witnesses were unable to definitively identify Ward as the gunman.
Despite the initial arrest, the murder of Garner D. Efraim officially remains unsolved and is now considered a cold case by the Virginia State Police. Seven months after the charges against him were dropped, Shawnta Ward was arrested and charged with the murder of another man in Portsmouth. For the family of Garner D. Efraim, justice has remained elusive for decades as investigators still hope for new information that could finally bring closure to the case.
