THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, July 9, 1994                 TAG: 9407090181
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Medium:   68 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** A July 9 story and headline on the alleged murder-suicide of a Norfolk couple erroneously stated they had seven children. The victim, Pamela Townes, had two children from a former marriage and two nephews living at home. Stephen Davenport, who police believe shot Townes and then himself, had two children not living at home. UNPUBLISHED CORRECTION submitted by Public Editor, July 22, 1994. ***************************************************************** COUPLE WHO DIED HAD SEVEN CHILDREN

Shortly after 7:30 a.m. Friday in the rapidly warming morning air, several gunshots blasted through a Wall Street home. There was a pause, then one more shot.

The shots left seven children 17 and younger without a father or a mother. Four children were home to see and hear the violence.

One child scrambled next door and called police.

Detectives believe Stephen Davenport, 34, shot Pamela Townes, 38, in the two-story, blue house they shared in Barraud Park, a working-class neighborhood off Tidewater Drive. Then, they believe, he shot himself.

The medical examiner will make the final determination on the deaths, police said.

``What happened here?'' a man asked a police officer standing under a tree on Wall Street.

``Two people died,'' the officer replied.

``Was it the heat?''

``No, it wasn't the heat.''

But it was another example of what detectives know and what crime statistics clearly show: A woman should fear most her husband or lover.

Consider some cases this year:

On April 28, Henry C. ``Jay'' Turner killed himself in a Newport News motel as police hunted him for slaying his wife, Nancy Gonzales Turner. Both were 43 and separated.

On April 1, Joseph E. Garitson broke into his wife's Virginia Beach office and killed her with a .44 Magnum revolver. He then shot himself. They had two children and were separated.

On Feb. 26, Lamont Allen Shinn Jr. sent his two young sons to school, then shot their mother to death. He later fired once into his chest. Donna Shinn wanted to get out of the marriage.

Of the 25 Hampton Roads women slain in 1993, nearly a third were killed by a husband or lover. Almost all of the others were killed by a relative, a neighbor or an acquaintance.

Husbands are still suspects in several of last year's unsolved slayings as well.

On Wall Street Friday, neighbors said Townes was unhappy and wanted to leave. The couple could be heard arguing Thursday night, neighbors said.

Townes is the city's 33rd murder victim this year. ILLUSTRATION: Apparent murder-suicide

[Color Photo] IAN MARTIN/Staff

Helen Davenport, center, is comforted by her daughter Carol

Woodhouse, right, and her niece Dolores Mitchell on Friday. Police

say that Davenport's son Stephen killed himself after shooting his

lover, Pamela Townes, in their Norfolk home on Wall Street.

KEYWORDS: SHOOTING MURDER SUICIDE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE by CNB