HAMPTON, Va. — Hampton police continue to investigate what they say was an attempted armed robbery of a food delivery driver on Marion Rd. and the shooting death of a man found nearby.
“In a way, it is scary," Tanika Robinson said when asked about her reaction to the police activity on her street Friday morning.
Robinson lives on Marion Rd., but said she didn’t see the police activity.
According to police, just before 1 a.m., someone tried to rob a food delivery driver at gunpoint. Police say the driver pulled out a gun, and the driver and robber shot at each other. The robber then ran away.
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“So many things have happened every day now, I think we, as people, are just getting numb to the situation," said Robinson. "It is very unfortunate, and it is very, like, what has America come to, type of deal.”
News 3 asked Hampton police for an interview to talk about when you can shoot at someone and when you can’t. Police declined to talk, saying they were still trying to figure out if the attempted robbery and a man found shot to death shortly after, not far away on Sergeant Street, were related.
Police did, however, provide News 3 with information about Virginia’s self-defense law, saying it has two "broad categories" that "have differing elements."
One category covers people who use force to defend themselves when they didn’t do anything to put themselves in danger.
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According to the law, in that case, if someone believes they are in imminent danger of being killed or great bodily harm, they can use only as much force as reasonably necessary to protect themselves.
The second category is for cases involving people who did something to cause someone to threaten them. The law says a person has to first retreat as far as they safely can and let the person or people threatening them know they want peace.
The Friday morning attempted robbery came less than a week after another case in Hampton Roads of someone shooting at someone else, possibly in self-defense.
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As News 3 has reported, Virginia State Police say a VSP special agent shot and killed a man when the man tried to break into the special agent’s home in Virginia Beach.
In response, News 3 talked to retired Norfolk police detective Rick James about the use of force.
“You have the right to defend yourself against deadly force, specifically if the deadly force is in your own home," James explained.
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As of Friday, that case was still under investigation.
Hampton police said the delivery driver in the Friday morning incident was not injured and was cooperating with police.
