On a Saturday evening in June 2016, a series of violent events unfolded in Northampton County, Virginia, culminating in the death of 30-year-old Ronald Graves of Portsmouth. The tragic chain of events began on Frederick Douglass Road in Exmore, where witnesses reported seeing a man sitting in a car for about half an hour before he suddenly emerged and began shooting.
This initial gunfire erupted amidst a community gathering, where many people, including children, were outdoors.
The gunman, later identified as 22-year-old Alexander Hunter Picott-Cleveland of Capeville, fled the first scene. Shortly after the incident in Exmore, authorities received another call about a gunshot victim at a residence on Arlington Road, approximately 26 miles away near Kiptopeke State Park. At this second location, deputies discovered Ronald Graves, who was critically injured, and a female victim who had been wounded in the earlier shooting in Exmore. Graves was transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Following the shootings, a nearly 12-hour manhunt for Picott-Cleveland ensued, involving multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Northampton Sheriff's Office, Exmore and Cape Charles police departments, Virginia State Police, and aircraft support from Virginia Beach and Maryland. The search concluded early the next morning when Picott-Cleveland was taken into custody without incident at his home.
Subsequent legal proceedings revealed that Ronald Graves and his killer, Picott-Cleveland, were cousins. In November 2017, Alexander Hunter Picott-Cleveland was sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison for the murder of Ronald Graves and other related charges. He received a 27-year sentence for the murder itself. In addition to the murder charge, Picott-Cleveland faced multiple counts of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, stemming from the injuries sustained by three other individuals during the two related shooting incidents.
