HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — A little over a week ago, family and friends gathered on Wine Street in Hampton to remember 17-year-old Kamari Mitchell, who was shot and killed April 2. The memorial still stands in the neighborhood.
10 On Your Side spoke to a friend of the victim, who didn’t want to be on camera. The friend identifies as a transgender woman and said Mitchell did as well.
“She always has a big smile on her face. Always had one. Always had one,” said Mitchell’s friend.
Over the weekend, police arrested 19-year-old Norfolk resident, Jimmy Leshawn Williams and charged him with murder.
The friend said the shooting stemmed from a fight at a party in Norfolk earlier that night. She said the fight was between her and Williams’ girlfriend — and that the bullet was meant for her, not Mitchell.
“[Williams’ girlfriend] was going to get her boyfriend to come shoot me and everybody in this house,” the friend said.
Court documents say police were able to identify Williams as the suspect through an eyewitness of the shooting. Documents say that witness said Williams pulled up on Wine Street in his girlfriend’s car. Williams then allegedly got out of the car carrying an assault rifle.
Williams then claimed there was a planned fight. Documents say he asked Mitchell who was fighting. Mitchell claimed to be one of those involved. Paperwork says the witness told police Williams asked if Mitchell was a boy or a girl. Documents say Mitchell replied a boy, and that’s when Williams shot Mitchell multiple times.
The gun matching the caliber of the cartridge casings located at the scene was found in a car parked by Mitchell’s body.
Mitchell’s friend said it should have never gotten to this point, and now she lives on edge wondering if there’s still a hit out on her.
“My whole thing is learn to go about things different. Your first instinct shouldn’t be ‘Get ’em, get ’em, get ’em’ — no,” the friend said.
Williams also faces receipt of a stolen firearm and concealed weapons charges in Chesapeake stemming from an incident six days after the homicide. Documents say police pulled him over for running a stop sign and found a stolen gun from Portsmouth under the driver’s seat. He faces similar stolen gun charges in Norfolk from an incident in December 2021. He was scheduled to appear in Chesapeake General District Court Monday morning, but that was continued until April 13.
