Three charged in Dec. 14 Jersey Park shooting
Published 3:31 pm Monday, December 16, 2024
- Left: Iam Allah; right: Keona Lawrence (Photos courtesy of Western Tidewater Regional Jail)
Police say a dispute between residents at Smithfield’s Jersey Park Apartments led to a weekend shooting that injured a woman.
Three people have been charged.
Smithfield Police responding to the 700 block of Wrenn Road just before 4 p.m. on Dec. 14 found a woman with a gunshot wound to the leg. Emergency medical services transported the woman to an unidentified hospital. She has since been released and is cooperating with the investigation, police said in a Dec. 15 Facebook post.
Police say witness statements and multiple cartridge casings and other evidence at the scene indicate rounds were fired in two directions. The shooting occurred approximately 870 feet from Westside Elementary School.
Search warrants executed at two apartments uncovered additional firearms and ammunition.
The victim and her alleged attacker, 43-year-old Keona Lawrence, are both Jersey Park residents, as is 47-year-old Iam Allah, who was also charged in connection with the shooting. Allah and Lawrence are both convicted felons, according to Smithfield Police.
Both face charges of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, brandishing a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school and discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school. Allah faces an additional charge of reckless handling of a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school. Lawrence faces additional charges of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Police also charged Ricardo Woodard with reckless handling of a firearm in connection with the shooting.
Allah and Lawrence were being held as of Dec. 16 at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail. Woodard was released on a summons.
“Smithfield Police take all incidents of gun violence seriously, especially those occurring in close proximity to schools and residential areas,” the department said in its Facebook post. “We remain committed to ensuring the safety of our community and will work diligently to bring those responsible to justice.”
The investigation is ongoing.
