Melvin Alston, 32, male, was killed in the early hours of January 1, 2014, after a New Year’s celebration in Norfolk, Virginia turned violent. Police identified him later that day and reported that he lived on Hoover Avenue in Chesapeake, a short drive from where the gunfire erupted.
Just after the night’s celebrations should have been fading into quiet, emergency calls reached police at about 3:08 a.m.
Officers were sent to a party in the 400 block of Berkley Avenue Extension, where an argument among people gathered there had escalated beyond shouting into gunfire. In the confusion, multiple people were struck, and the scene that greeted responding officers was already a tragedy in progress.
At the location, police said two people were pronounced dead. Alston was one of them, and the other was identified as Marcus Deering. Investigators also learned that a woman who had been shot was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with injuries described as not life-threatening. A fourth shooting victim was located later; police said he also had non-life-threatening injuries and had gone to Portsmouth for treatment before officers ever arrived at the party scene.
As daylight arrived on New Year’s Day, the case remained unsettled. Police said they were still searching for the suspect or suspects and urged anyone with information about what happened at the party—who argued, who pulled a weapon, who ran, and who might have seen the shooter—to contact the Norfolk Crime Line. In the public updates available from that period, no suspect was named and no arrest was announced in connection with Alston’s death.
