On a spring evening in Portsmouth, Virginia, a house party among friends took a tragic turn, ending the life of 23-year-old Donald Thorington, an active-duty U.S. Navy sailor. On Sunday, May 5, 2019, an argument that began inside the residence on Atlanta Avenue spilled outside, escalating to gunfire. Responding to a 911 call for medical assistance around 9:29 p.m., police discovered Thorington with a gunshot wound to his torso.
Paramedics transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the deadly shooting quickly led detectives to identify a fellow Navy sailor, 21-year-old Dalen O. Spence, as the suspect. Thorington, a Michigan native and a Petty Officer Third Class who had completed nuclear power training school, was serving on the USS George Washington at the time of his death. Spence, an Aviation Ordnanceman, served on the USS George H.W. Bush. According to court documents, a witness stated that Spence fired the shots after Thorington had placed his hands on his neck. Spence later claimed he was acting in self-defense against Thorington, whom he described as larger.
Following the incident, Spence was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents initially detained him before turning him over to the Portsmouth Police. Friends and family remembered Thorington, a graduate of Cobleskill-Richmondville High School who had enlisted in the Navy three years prior, as a very intelligent person with a bright future. He had recently moved off the naval base and had commented on the perceived danger of the area.
