A Petersburg man who turned up at a hospital with a gunshot wound ended up under arrest himself, accused of wounding another man during a shooting early Saturday near South Adams Street. Police said 37-year-old Dejuan “DJ” Roy now faces charges of malicious wounding and a firearm-related offense after two men were hurt in the predawn gunfire.
Gunfire Near South Adams Street
According to The Progress Index, the shooting happened around 12:45 a.m. in the 400 block of South Adams Street. A separate account from 12 On Your Side puts the time slightly earlier, saying officers heard gunshots near the same block around 12:43 a.m. Both outlets agree that police were already patrolling the area when the shots rang out.
Officers found one victim with a non-life-threatening injury at the scene, per the Progress Index account. Roy later showed up at Bon Secours Southside Medical Center in Petersburg with a gunshot wound that was also described as not life threatening, and investigators arrested him after further investigation. Police recovered two guns in connection with the shooting, the paper reported.
Charges and Custody
The Progress Index reported that Roy was charged with malicious wounding and reckless use of a firearm, while 12 On Your Side described the firearm charge as reckless handling of a firearm. Roy is being held without bond pending a court appearance, according to the same report.
Under Virginia Code § 18.2-51, a person who maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds another, or causes bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill, can face the malicious wounding offense laid out in that statute.
A City Already Under Scrutiny For Gun Violence
The shooting lands in a city that has drawn state attention for its gun violence numbers. A JLARC report cited by WRIC found Petersburg posted the state's highest gun-related homicide rate, at 53.8 per 100,000 residents, even as the city saw the steepest decline of any Virginia locality — a 58% drop over three years. The same report found Petersburg and eight other localities together account for more than half of the state's gun-related homicides, while Petersburg has received about $832,573, roughly 1%, of an $80 million state gun-violence program between fiscal years 2021 and 2026.
Petersburg has seen other bursts of gun violence in recent months. An early-Sunday-morning shooting near a restaurant in the city's Old Towne area in June left five people wounded, according to WTVR, with two victims hospitalized in serious condition and three others treated and released. Police said shell casings found at that scene indicated multiple shooters firing guns of different calibers, and no arrests had been made at the time of that report. WTVR also reported that the police department and mayor said the department would soon be hiring 17 new officers.
