THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240371
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
After more than two murder-free months, Portsmouth recorded the first homicide of 1996 Tuesday when a 29-year-old man was shot several times in the backyard of a residence in the 1100 block of Lansing Avenue.
After he was shot, the man ran about 100 yards to Lansing Avenue and South Street, where he collapsed at the doorway of the H&H Grocery.
Mark Anthony Holley of 79 Swanson Parkway was dead at the scene when paramedics arrived shortly after 8 p.m.
Holley was discovered by his sister, 33-year-old Cynthia Harvey.
``When I turned him over I saw the holes in his neck,'' Harvey said Tuesday night as she stood with other family members along South Street. ``He was already gone.''
Police said Tuesday that Holley and another man were confronted by two men wearing ski masks and carrying handguns.
The suspects forced Holley and the other man around a house, where they were met by two other suspects. Holley's companion was made to lie face down on the ground and was robbed. He heard gunshots while on the ground. Holley's companion was not injured, police said.
Police had not arrested a suspect Tuesday night.
Holley's murder is the first since Portsmouth set a homicide record on Nov. 19 when Donald ``Red'' Lancaster, 36, was found shot to death in the first block of Afton Parkway. The murder of Lancaster was the 37th in 1995, breaking by one a record that had stood since 1992.
The murder record reconfirmed the city's status as the region's most violent city. Portsmouth has had the highest violent crime rate in Hampton Roads for several years and was among the top 25 cities in the country, according to homicide rates for 1993.
But with six weeks left in 1995, the killing suddenly stopped. The year ended with 37 homicides, and more than three weeks passed in 1996 before Holley was slain.
Some people credited a violent crimes initiative started by the Portsmouth Police Department last fall. Others said an FBI task force targeting violent drug dealers in the city's housing communities was responsible. Still others, including Chief of Police Dennis A. Mook, said the murder drought was likely a product of a natural but unexplained fluctuation.
The slaying of Holley starts the clock ticking on several initiatives started by police and the Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's Office to combat violence and improve the city's homicide clearance rate, the region's lowest.
Amid criticisms of poor law enforcement and a lenient court system, Commonwealth's Attorney Martin Bullock announced this month that the city's police will try to issue arrest warrants within 72 hours of a murder and make an arrest within five days. Bullock's office, he said, is committed to bring suspects to trial within five months.
Del. Billy Moore also has announced a legislative package to battle Portsmouth crime, highlighted by bond reform that would make it easier to keep violent felons in jail while they await trial.
KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING ROBBERY by CNB