VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The family of Donovon Lynch, the 25-year-old man shot and killed by a police officer in Virginia Beach on March 26, will hold a press conference Monday.
The family said they plan to hold the conference at the location of the shooting, 20th Street and Pacific Avenue, on Monday at noon.
They say they will give new details in the shooting, which they believe was negligently handled by city and state officials.
“In the two weeks since the shooting death of Donovon Lynch, city and state officials have failed to keep the public and the family updated on its investigation and refused to identify the two uniformed officers involved in the shooting – both of whom did not have their body cameras turned on,” the family said in a news release Friday night.
The officer-involved shooting has been met with controversy and criticism.
Virginia Beach police have said Lynch brandished a firearm before he was shot and killed at the Oceanfront that night — amid multiple other shootings that left a woman dead and nine others injured. A handgun was recovered at the scene where Lynch was shot, but his family said he was licensed to carry the weapon.
The family, through an attorney, has unsuccessfully pressed officials to retract the statement about Lynch brandishing the gun.
Pharrell Williams, a music artist and Virginia Beach native who is Lynch’s cousin, called on police to be transparent when he spoke at Lynch’s celebration of life on April 4.
Williams also called on federal authorities to investigate the shooting independently — a message the family echoed in the news release about the press conference sent Friday night.
The Lynch family wants the U.S. Department of Justice to take over investigation of the case.
Virginia Beach police have already handed the shooting investigation over to Virginia State Police, and the city commonwealth’s attorney’s office will also conduct an independent investigation.
The family says they’ve talked to eyewitnesses in the shooting who contradict police.
Black Lives Matter 757 has called on some Virginia Beach officials to resign.
“My son was murdered and now they try to murder his character. Not this time” said Donovon’s father, Wayne Lynch, in the news release Friday. “We want justice for my son and it begins with the police taking back the statement that he was brandishing a weapon.”
Anyone with information or cell phone video before, of, or after the shooting should contact the Virginia State Police at 757-424-6800 or by email at questions@vsp.virginia.gov.
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