THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602030331
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Four members of a six-man gang have been arrested in the slaying of a 29-year-old man who was apparently engaged in a drug transaction when he became the city's first homicide victim of 1996 on Jan. 23.
It is the first evidence this year that a new crime-fighting initiative in Portsmouth may be working, even though the arrests and identifications were not all within guidelines set up by Commonwealth's Attorney Martin Bullock this year.
Bullock announced Jan. 9 that his office and the Police Department would charge murder suspects within 72 hours, arrest suspects within five days, complete homicide trials within five months and move for higher bonds to keep criminals behind bars.
The four gang members in custody are Ernest C. Scott Jr., 21, of the 800 block of Dorset Ave.; Michael L. Mcguire, 19, of the 900 block of Ann St.; Terry A. Kee, 20, whose address was not known; and Tywone Wilkins, 19, of the 600 block of Edwards St.
Wilkins was arrested on Jan. 27, and the other three were arrested on Jan. 26, all within Bullock's guidelines. Police are still looking for Portsmouth residents Maurice Melson of the 3100 block of Greenwood Drive and Anthony Wynn of the 1300 block of Effingham Street. Both are considered armed and dangerous, said police spokeswoman Amber Whittaker. The four arrests were not announced until Friday because of fears that the two men still at large would flee, Whittaker said.
Scott, Mcguire, Kee and Wilkins are in custody at the Portsmouth City Jail on bonds of at least $1 million. All have been charged with capital murder, two weapons violations, two counts of robbery and abduction. Police said Friday they may bring as many as 70 charges against the six men when the investigation is completed.
The men are suspects in the shooting of Mark Anthony Holley of the 70 block of Swanson Parkway in the Swanson Homes housing community. Holley was shot in the neck just before 8 p.m. Jan. 23 near his residence. He ran to the front door of the H&H Grocery at 1622 South Street where he was found by a relative. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Police said on Jan. 23 that Holley may have been trying to sell drugs when he was robbed and then shot. A companion of Holley's escaped without injury.
The violent-crime initiative organized by Bullock and Chief of Police Dennis Mook was conceived last year, as the city broke a record for homicides by registering 37 in a 12-month period.
Bullock's 1996 law enforcement goals were in response to criticism that the city had a reputation for being soft on crime because violent offenders were being released by the city's judges into the community before trials.
Last year's violent crime surge, plus Portsmouth's recent history of having the region's highest violent crime rate and one of the nation's highest per capita murder rates, also prompted the FBI to set up a task force last fall aimed at drug gangs that had eluded the state criminal justice system.
The task force already has broken up a gang centered in the low-income River Edge Apartments complex. Seven members of the River Edge gang were arrested in December and are being held without bond in the federal criminal justice system. One of those defendants, Andre Lamont Branche, was sentenced to a no-parole federal sentence this week. ILLUSTRATION: Portsmouth police are still looking for Maurice Melson, left, of
the 3100 block of Greenwood Drive, and Anthony Wynn, right, of the
1300 block of Effingham Street.
KEYWORDS: ARREST MURDER SHOOTING by CNB