A burst of gunfire near West 27th Street and Elkhorn Avenue in Norfolk left six homes and two parked cars pocked with bullet holes Wednesday evening, though police say remarkably no one was hurt. Three of the damaged houses were occupied at the time shots rang out, while three others and both vehicles were empty.
Norfolk police say they responded to reports of a disturbance around 6:10 p.m. Wednesday, and a shootout broke out near that intersection shortly after 6 p.m., according to 13News Now. By the time officers reached the scene, whoever had been firing was already gone.
A preliminary investigation indicates multiple people arrived in multiple vehicles, exchanged gunfire, and left the area before officers got there, police told the station. Investigators found three homes and the two vehicles unoccupied when gunfire struck them, while three other houses had people inside at the time — yet no injuries were reported from the shooting.
Police Ask Public for Tips
With no suspects named and the shooters already fled by the time patrol units arrived, Norfolk police are leaning on the public for leads. Anyone with information has been asked to call the Norfolk Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP, the department said, per the same 13News Now report.
The incident adds to a grim tally for the city this year. Norfolk recorded 28 homicides as of Aug. 25, 2026 — a 65% jump from the 17 counted at the same point in 2025, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Twenty-three of those 28 homicides were shootings, the paper reported.
A Mixed Picture on Violent Crime
The homicide spike has come even as other crime categories moved in the opposite direction. Norfolk logged 16 nonfatal shootings in the first six months of 2026, down slightly from 17 over the same stretch in 2025, and overall violent crime in the city fell 3% during that period, from 532 reported crimes to 517, The Virginian-Pilot found.
The city had previously touted a sharp improvement the year before: Norfolk reported 26 homicides in 2025, a 30% decrease from the prior year, along with 56 nonfatal shootings, a 24% drop from 2024, according to a statement from the City of Norfolk. This year's homicide totals, through Aug. 25, suggest that decline has reversed.
Norfolk's struggles also fit into a broader regional pattern. More than a quarter of Virginia's gun-related homicides between 2020 and 2024 occurred in just four Hampton Roads cities — Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News and Hampton — per a report cited by WHRO. Gun homicide rates have fallen in most of those four cities from their pandemic-era peak in 2022, the outlet reported, with Newport News the exception.
For now, Wednesday's shootout on Elkhorn Avenue remains an open case, with no word yet from police on who was involved or why the gunfire erupted. Residents in the area were left assessing bullet damage to their homes and vehicles, grateful that no one was struck amid the exchange.
