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’Bad situation all around’: Local minister reacts to El Norteno Restaurant shooting in Martinsville

‘We’ve got to take care of ourselves spiritually and take a good, hard look at where we’re at’

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – All that was left of El Norteno, the site of Friday night’s deadly Martinsville shooting, was a perimeter of yellow tape.

10 News spoke to a Martinsville resident that was a bystander in the aftermath of the incident that left two dead and another two in critical condition.

[Two dead, two injured in Friday night Martinsville shooting after altercation inside restaurant]

“As a witness and a testimony to what happened here tonight, bad things happen,” said David Harr.

The local minister said he consoled the mother of one of the victims with prayer.

“She just wanted to see her son. She conveyed to me that she just wanted closure,” he said.

State troopers and crime scene tape remained until Saturday afternoon while investigators put the pieces together.

A 22-year-old man and a 33-year-old man were shot and killed while another two were injured and in critical condition after an altercation led to a series of shootings, according to Virginia State Police.

Harr says he feels for the victim’s families as well as the owners of the restaurant.

“It’s just a bad situation all around,” he says. “I’d tell them I love them and respect them. I’d really like to see establishments close down at 9:30 or 10 for alcohol because it would avoid a lot of these situations.”

After this dangerous and deadly night, he hopes Martinsville never experiences violence like this again.

“We’ve got to take care of ourselves spiritually and take a good, hard look at where we’re at,” he says.