CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — The case against a Norfolk police officer is moving ahead to the grand jury.
Edmund Hoyt was off duty when Chesapeake police say he shot and killed 42-year-old Kelvin White.
Hoyt has been on administrative leave ever since the shooting in the 2600 block of Bainbridge Boulevard in Chesapeake in January.
He faces a voluntary manslaughter charge.
On Friday morning, a judge decided there was sufficient probable cause to support the charge.
According to police, on Jan. 19, 2020, Hoyt’s wife was walking on Bainbridge Boulevard to the Food Lion near their home with their two young children, one of whom was in a stroller. She encountered White while walking, who allegedly told her she couldn’t pass. She told him she would use mace, but he said he had a knife and would stab her.
She then called her husband.
Hoyt showed up, and after an altercation with White, fired six shots. White died later at the hospital.
The prosecution confirmed earlier this year that White had schizophrenia and may have been off his medication.
White’s family is seeking justice after he was killed back in January.
“The story is so conflicting and it hurts every day,” White’s brother, Gerald, told 10 On Your Side.
Two officers, a detective, and a forensic technician testified in court Friday.
The forensic technician said a gun, “cutting device,” six shell casings, and a backpack with books inside were recovered at the scene.
The technician said the backpack had bullet holes, and five bullets were found the books.
The technician also explained the gun was located inside Hoyt’s car and the cutting device was found with a metal detector on the ground near a fence line.
Gerald told 10 On Your Side that White carried that book bag with his mother’s encyclopedias inside.
One responding officer said he was dispatched for a shots fired call around 3:30 p.m.
When he first got to the scene, he said he saw White face down, with Hoyt holding his wrists behind his back.
He says he wasn’t sure if White was alive or dead at that point.
He then secured Hoyt in handcuffs.
A detective who also spoke in court said he talked to Hoyt when he first got to the scene.
Hoyt allegedly told him he drove there after getting a call from his wife who said White had cut her.
However, Hoyt told the detective he didn’t see any injuries on her when he got there.
Hoyt also allegedly said he didn’t see a knife until after he put his hands on White.
“Mr. Hoyt was not there when this threat was supposedly called, see what I’m saying? He came after the fact, so that sits in the back of my head and it bothers me day by day,” said Gerald White.
Hoyt is expected back in court Jan. 5 at 2 p.m.
