PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – Pittsylvania County deputies are searching for the gunman involved in a shooting that left one person dead early Sunday morning in Blairs.
Deerwood Springs neighbors, who found themselves in the middle of it all, are uneasy and wondering about what will happen next.
Loud music coming from the home in the 500 Block of Deerwood Drive pulled them off the couch and to the front porch.
“They’ve had plenty of parties, so it didn’t seem out of the ordinary,” neighbor Shevi Sloane says. “Except that this one was attracting a lot more people and it was running a little bit later than normal.”
Sloane has lived in the area for five years. He says a lot of people know and love the family, which is why no one wanted to call the cops initially.
However, hundreds started showing up and it was a crowd he and other neighbors like Norma Cousino didn’t recognize. She’s lived in the area for more than 20 years.
“Evidently, these guys were from somewhere else because they didn’t belong in our neighborhood,” Cousino says. “I haven’t been scared since my husband passed, until now.”
“Before I knew it, there were gunshots and people running around and screaming,” Sloane adds.
Authorities say 25-year-old Wyshawn Brandon was struck by one of those gunshots around 12:43 a.m. Sunday. He later died in the hospital.
“I’m thinking that there’s no way this will happen again,” Sloane says. “I’m still processing it and I don’t know whether or not we did the right thing by not calling the police earlier. It’s an uneasy feeling.”
This is the first time neighbors say they haven’t felt safe at home. They add they won’t again until whoever did this is found and held responsible.
“Find the guy that did it. It’s too much crime,” Cousino says. “The police, both Pittsylvania County and the city, need to clamp down on it.”
Authorities were in the neighborhood Monday afternoon. They were asking neighbors questions and getting doorbell videos.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office at 434-432-7715.