NORFOLK, Va. — Concerned West Ghent residents packed St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Thursday night, demanding answers from city leaders after last weekend’s chaotic street takeover left neighbors shaken.
Just days after reckless drivers, fireworks, and flames took over the intersection of Redgate Avenue and Greenway Court, residents gathered for an emergency community meeting focused on public safety, police response times, and preventing another incident from happening again.
“Not every day you see the street lit up with fire at night,” said Paul Rice, president of the West Ghent Civic League. “We want to make sure all the neighborhoods here have a chance to hear from city leaders about what happened and how they’re going to stop it from happening again.”
Rice, who lives just doors away from the intersection, said neighbors were stunned watching the chaos unfold in what is normally a quiet neighborhood.
The meeting came after Norfolk police arrested 19-year-old Isaiah Duncan-Simmons of Virginia Beach in connection to the takeover. He faces charges of disorderly conduct and damaging property by fire. According to Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi, Duncan-Simmons has bonded out of jail and is due back in court May 27.
During the meeting, Norfolk Police Chief Mark Talbot gave residents a detailed timeline of Sunday night’s response.
Talbot said the first 911 call came in around 8:22 p.m. reporting reckless driving and smoke from tires near the intersection. Officers were initially dispatched a few minutes later, but then diverted to a higher-priority call involving a man reportedly being chased by armed suspects.
“We didn’t have enough units clear to respond,” Talbot said. “The officers who were coming to Red Gate were diverted to deal with the man with a gun.”
Talbot said as additional calls started coming in reporting possible gunshots and a growing hostile crowd, officers redirected back toward West Ghent.
“It was a collision of events that had us tied up,” Talbot said.
Still, many residents questioned why it took so long for officers to arrive.
Councilwoman Courtney Doyle, who lives nearby, acknowledged those concerns directly during the meeting.
“From the first call to the first car, it was 18 minutes, and for those who were there experiencing this mayhem and chaos, that is an eternity,” Doyle said. “I am not here to defend that response time.”
Doyle described hearing the noise from her home before realizing something far more dangerous was happening nearby.
“I realized, no, no, no, it wasn’t that, it was far worse,” Doyle said. “As these folks are dispersing, they are driving like bats out of hell down the street. It was unbelievable.”
Despite the concerns, both city leaders and police emphasized how much community involvement helped investigators quickly identify suspects.
Talbot praised residents for calling 911, sharing cellphone videos, and cooperating with investigators.
“The problem is, when this happens in a lot of neighborhoods, nobody calls,” Talbot said. “The problem is, we don’t have the videos, and we don’t have people who are willing to give the information that lets us do our job.”
According to Norfolk 911 officials, more than 30 calls came in connected to the West Ghent incident alone.
Melinda Wray with Norfolk 911 said the incident also highlighted major changes inside the city’s emergency communications division over the past two years.
“When we took over at the merger in 2024, it was 46 seconds on average for somebody to pick up the phone,” Wray said. “That 46-second average timeframe was absolutely unacceptable.”
Wray said Sunday night’s first call connected with dispatchers in about 11 seconds despite a surge of emergency calls citywide.
“It means that huge surge that came in in the first 15 minutes of 60 calls — someone actually picked up the phone,” Wray said.
Rice said Thursday night’s meeting was ultimately about accountability and making sure residents feel heard.
“This isn’t just about our neighborhood,” Rice said. “This is happening all over the city, and we want to make sure we hear from city leaders that there’s steps being taken to make sure this doesn’t keep happening across the city.”
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