A man was found unresponsive in bushes near a home in the 400 block of Thole Street in Norfolk on Thursday evening, and he was later pronounced dead at the scene. Police say the discovery came after someone reported encountering the man in the bushes near a residence, setting off a response from officers, detectives, and forensic personnel.
Officers arrived in the area at approximately 5:35 p.m. Thursday, according to WTKR, which reported that police responded to the 400 block of Thole Street on the report of an unresponsive man in the bushes near a home. Norfolk Fire-Rescue arrived shortly after and pronounced the man dead on the scene, the station reported.
Detectives And Forensics Comb The Scene
Norfolk police detectives and the department's forensic unit responded to the scene to investigate the incident and the circumstances surrounding the man's death, per the same account. As of Thursday evening, police had not released the man's identity or any details about how he died.
Virginia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determines the cause and manner of death in cases including sudden, unexpected deaths and deaths involving suspected violence. The office generally withholds case information until its investigation is complete, then may release the cause and manner of death. Those determinations can help establish whether a death was natural, accidental, a homicide or otherwise classified; the fact that police are investigating does not itself establish foul play. Virginia’s medical-examiner process includes these cases, and state law limits what the office releases before an investigation is complete.
The case was still being treated as an active, ongoing investigation, and police said additional information would be shared when it becomes available, the outlet noted.
A Pattern Of Unexplained Deaths In Norfolk
This isn't the only recent case in Norfolk where police have had to work out the circumstances behind an unexpected death. In August 2025, officers received a call around 7:45 p.m. that a body had been found in the water on the 4400 block of Pretty Lake Avenue, a case WTKR reported was being investigated as an undetermined death. That earlier case remains a separate investigation, but it underscores how often Norfolk police are left piecing together the final hours of someone's life with limited information in the early stages.
Norfolk’s Violent Crimes Unit handles a range of cases that includes homicides and undetermined deaths, reflecting that investigators may work a death investigation before its circumstances are resolved. In a separate Norfolk case, the medical examiner later ruled an initially undetermined death a homicide. That case does not indicate what happened on Thole Street, but it illustrates why an early classification—or the absence of one—may not be the final determination. The unit’s listed responsibilities include undetermined deaths, and Norfolk police have announced a separate case that was later ruled a homicide.
For now, the circumstances surrounding the Thole Street death remain unclear, and police have not said whether foul play is suspected. Neighbors near the 400 block of Thole Street are left waiting, as detectives continue working the scene and the investigation unfolds.
