THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 25, 1994 TAG: 9409250084
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Police are looking for two black men who reportedly were wearing hooded sweat shirts at the time of the shooting.
A small black handgun was used in the robbery attempt and shooting, Hill said.
The shooting occurred at 9:12 p.m. in front of 1928 Greenleaf Drive in the Oakleaf Forest housing community.
Residents milled about after the shooting. Many were on their way to a neighborhood block party.
One woman said she heard two gunshots after seeing the pizza delivery driver leave his car and take a pizza to an apartment at 1928 Greenleaf. A pillow and blanket soaked with blood were on the sidewalk outside the apartment late Saturday.
The driver worked at a Chanello's Pizza outlet on Indian River Road, Hill said.
Saturday night's shooting is the latest example of what has become an increasingly frequent crime of violence in South Hampton Roads. Police have investigated perhaps 100 or more robberies of pizza delivery drivers in the past three years.
Most recently, police arrested an 18-year-old Norfolk man, Jonton V. Hunt, on Aug. 9 and charged him with shooting a pizza delivery driver in the face in the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake. The shooting occurred Aug. 6. The driver, Ronald Schwartztrauber, survived.
In February in Suffolk, a 22-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were charged with ordering pizza twice and then robbing the delivery drivers at gunpoint.
In late January on the Eastern Shore, a 23-year-old woman was shot and killed on a deserted road during a pizza delivery.
The most publicized case was in Newport News on Jan. 11, when police officer Steven R. Rutherford was murdered while posing as a pizza delivery driver during an ill-planned undercover operation aimed at ending a series of robberies in the Denbeigh area of the city.
Last month, 18-year-old Nephus S. Stanley pled guilty to the capital murder and robbery of Rutherford and to two firearms charges. He received life sentences on the murder and robbery charges and eight years on the firearms charges. The plea agreement allowed Stanley to avoid a possible death sentence.
Three other teenagers also were convicted for roles in the murder and robbery of Rutherford.
The fatal pizza delivery sting operation led to several investigations of police procedures and a shakeup of the Newport News Police Department that included the resignation of Chief Jay A. Carey Jr. MEMO: If you have information on the shooting, call Crime Line at 441-5100.
ILLUSTRATION: Map
STAFF
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING ROBBERY ASSAULT
INJURIES by CNB