PETERSBURG, Va. (WRIC) — A Petersburg mother is dead after her boyfriend allegedly shot and killed her over Memorial Day weekend.
The Petersburg Bureau of Police said the man accused of committing the deadly shooting performed the act right in front of his young niece and nephew. The man, identified by police as 32-year-old Donald Johnson of Petersburg, has been charged with first-degree murder.
Shortly before 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 27, Petersburg Police officers were called to Talley Avenue — just a few blocks away from Cool Spring Elementary School — for a report of a shooting.
When police got to the scene, officers found Tewana Williams, a Petersburg mother, dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
Neighbors who spoke with 8News said they are stunned and saddened someone was killed. They described the gunfire as sounding like fireworks coming from a nearby home.
“I mean, like a tap gun going off a lot. Like it pop, pop, pop, pop,” described neighbor Brenda Traynham.
Kenneth Yates has lived on Talley Avenue for almost 20 years. His home is just four doors down from where the shooting occurred.
“I would never suspect just what happened in a hundred years, you know, and like I said, it just so sad, you know,” Yates said.
Other neighbors who were outside at the time of the incident told 8News that police arrested Johnson shortly after locating Williams’ body at the home.
Neighbors said Johnson’s young niece and nephew were at the house being babysat by their grandmother — Johnson’s mother — when the shooting happened.
“I really do feel sorry for the victim and especially the mother and most of all, the two young kids within that house,” Yates said. “That’s just so sad, the fact that they had a witness to a murder, and he was in the house. I hate to use this word but to me, they were trapped because they couldn’t go anywhere.”
Neighbors told 8News they heard Johnson and Williams arguing right before the shots started to ring out. Yates said his community is usually a quiet one, and he hopes they can bounce back from the trauma. He also said the recent gun violence won’t scare him away.
“I hope nothing will happen like this again in this neighborhood,” Yates said. “And you not pushing me out. You probably have to get a bulldozer to push me out. I’m not going anywhere.”
Johnson was charged with first-degree murder, use of a firearm while committing a felony and discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling. He is being held without bond.
Anyone who has information about the shooting is asked to contact the Petersburg Bureau of Police at 804-732-4222.
