A Portsmouth jury has found Reginald Aaron Suggs guilty in connection with the September 2025 shooting death of Orlando Maurice Watts, who was gunned down near the Port Norfolk Supermarket during what prosecutors described as an attempted robbery. Suggs was convicted of aggravated murder, attempted robbery causing death, two firearm-related charges and shooting across a roadway, and now faces sentencing in December.
According to WAVY.com, the shooting happened shortly after noon on Sept. 9, 2025, near Wesley Street and Mt. Vernon Avenue after Watts and another man left the supermarket. Suggs approached the pair, demanded money, then pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots, the station reported. Watts was struck by gunfire and later died at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
Gunfire Also Struck a Nearby Apartment
The violence wasn't contained to the confrontation itself. A nearby apartment was also hit by gunfire during the shooting, per the same account. The shooting was captured on surveillance video, and Suggs was subsequently arrested in the case.
The Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's Office reported that Suggs was found guilty in connection with the shooting death, the station noted. As reported by Yahoo News, the jury's verdict covered all four categories of charges Suggs faced, and he is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 4 at 9:30 a.m.
What the Charges Carry Under Virginia Law
Virginia's legal code frames the seriousness of the conviction. Under state law, aggravated murder includes the willful, deliberate and premeditated killing of a person committed in the course of robbery or attempted robbery, according to Virginia's legal code. Separately, a person who commits robbery and causes serious bodily injury or death to another is guilty of a Class 2 felony, while displaying a firearm in a threatening manner during a robbery is a Class 3 felony, per the Virginia robbery statute. State law also makes it unlawful to use or attempt to use a firearm, or to display a firearm in a threatening manner, while committing or attempting to commit murder, according to the firearm-use statute.
Portsmouth's Place in a Statewide Gun Violence Picture
The conviction lands against a backdrop of shifting gun violence trends across Virginia. Firearm injuries statewide fell 12% between 2020 and 2024, and firearm homicides dropped by nearly 9% over the past five years, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Emergency-room treatment for firearm injuries peaked statewide in 2021, when 2,818 cases were recorded, the paper reported, and about 70% of patients hospitalized for gunshot wounds were Black Virginians, with roughly 9% of those hospitalized dying from their injuries.
Despite the statewide decline, Portsmouth's firearm-homicide rate was 38.13 per 100,000 people in 2022. The city is among the Hampton Roads municipalities, alongside Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News and Chesapeake, covered by Operation Ceasefire, an initiative aimed at reducing violent crime in the region.
