WAVY.com

‘What was your purpose?’ asks mother of 15-year-old girl fatally shot in Norfolk

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Community members, local leaders and loved ones gathered on Sunday afternoon to remember a 15-year-old girl who died following a shooting in Norfolk on Saturday evening.

Police say they first received word of a double shooting around 9:30 p.m. and responded to the scene in the 1400 block of E. Tanners Creek Drive.


When police arrived on the scene, they found a 15-year-old girl and her 17-year-old brother suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. They were both transported to Sentara Norfolk General.

The female victim, identified by Norfolk Police as Teonna Coburn, later succumbed to her injuries Saturday night.

The 17-year-old male victim is expected to be OK and should be released from the hospital on Monday.

Calls for unity and peace were mixed with feelings of anger and frustration less than 24 hours after the shooting.

The mother of the victims says she’s burning on the inside.

“It’s hurts bad,” said Marcia Keeling, the victim’s mother. “I’m a strong person, I got to be strong for her and I still got a son I got to be strong for while he’s in the hospital.”

She spoke at the Stop the Violence rally this afternoon pleading for people to speak out and speak up.

“Y’all took my baby,” said Keeling. “She’s not going to go to prom. I’m going to walk past her room and it’s going to be empty. That’s not fair. Like why? What was your point? What was your purpose?”

Community members say no one can sit out and sit back if they want to eliminate violence from communities across Hampton Roads.

“We need to try to figure out a resource – what can we do with these kids – to get them off the streets,” said Elliot Boddie, the victim’s neighbor. “Violence is not the way right now. We need to target it.”

This is yet another rally organized the Stop the Violence team in the wake of several recent weeks of violence across Hampton Roads.

“This is no joke,” said Bilal Muhammad from the team. “And we sick of it.”

The investigation is ongoing.

Norfolk Police encourage anyone with information about this shooting to contact the Norfolk Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP or submit a tip through the P3Tips mobile app.

There is also a GoFundMe set up to help the family. To donate, click here.