In the early morning hours of September 15, 2015, the quiet of a Newport News, Virginia apartment complex was shattered by the sound of gunfire. When police responded to the calls from the 700 block of Old Oyster Point Road just after 6 a.m., they discovered the body of 39-year-old Nathaniel Leon Morrison in a parking lot in front of a row of apartments. He had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into his death would become an enduring mystery, leaving a family without answers and a community on edge.
Nathaniel, a male resident of Newport News for 26 years, was found in the Abbington Landing apartment complex. The incident was one of two shootings that occurred in the city that morning, adding to the sense of alarm. Residents in the area reported hearing as many as seven or eight gunshots, and the subsequent arrival of numerous law enforcement officers transformed the normally peaceful neighborhood into an active crime scene that would be processed for hours. The proximity of the shooting to a school bus stop was particularly distressing for local parents.
Despite the initial and ongoing investigation by the Newport News Police Department, details about a motive for the killing have not been released to the public. In the years that have passed since Nathaniel Morrison's violent death, there have been no significant breakthroughs reported in the case. No suspects have been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made in connection with his murder. The case remains an active homicide investigation, with law enforcement still hopeful that new information will emerge to bring those responsible to justice.
